The One

by bsoiree

“I don’t like hot pickles in my
sandwiches.” Her voice was edged as she pulled the warm
slices covered with dripping sauces out and dropped them into the
bag. This was getting more than annoying. He’d done it
three times in a row now, not that she liked fast food to start
with. “I like pickles, but I don’t like them
heated.” Kendal licked the sauce from her fingers after
each pickle slice was removed, “And you know that.”

From the corner of his eye Dwayne watched with amusement as
the tall brunette’s long forefinger left her mouth. Then
he found it incredibly sexy. She would have been shocked at the
notion. Tall and lithe with long, full brown hair, olive
complexion, high cheek bones and naturally seductive brown eyes
rimmed with lashes that didn’t stop, she was drop dead
gorgeous but never paid her looks any particular attention. It
was never foremost in her mind. She was far more interested in
climbing her way up the ladder of law enforcement
success.

The hot evening air of summer wafted off the distant Sound
into the open windows of their unmarked car as the sun set in the
west. Once a small village of lumber and fishing shacks near the
much larger, well-known metropolis of Seattle, Edgeway had grown
and prospered until their modern sprawl melded into a seemingly
unending stretch of professional and trade enterprises. The two
people sat in their car hidden beside a concrete pillar in a
parking structure on the row looking out, a perfect position to
see but not be easily seen in the bustling city center.

Kendal removed another pickle slice, tossed it in the bag,
licked her fingers and glanced at the elite hotel across and down
the street with its steady flow of customers coming and going.
Like Seattle, Edgeway was hilly. Even in the heart of the
smaller town, where the Edgeway Convention Center sat surrounded
by exclusive, high-rise hotels and rooftop restaurants all within
fairly easy walking distance of the other, the hills gave a
little challenge to any trek.

On the distant Sound ferryboats moved steadily in and out
across the emerald water now streaked with sunset gold. Here in
the warm comfortable air of summer, tourists filled
Edgeway’s well-lit streets. Taxis lined the area near the
hotel’s entrance, waiting their turn to whisk their patrons
off to dinner, the not-so-distant Space Needle, a multitude of
theaters, a game or a drove of other attractions shared by a
string of sprawling metropolises. Three conventions were in the
area, a baseball game and a very upscale downtown gallery
opening. The Northwest at its finest.

“Umgh,” her pudgy partner answered, chewing his
own hamburger with enjoyment before jamming a French fry in his
packed mouth as well. At thirty he was four years younger and at
5’10” he was three inches shorter. And she outranked
him. She always gets the damn plum jobs cause she’s a
fuckin’ woman, he grumbled to himself. Probably
sleeps with the boss to get “em, too. Although it was
pretty generally thought around the station that she didn’t
bat on that team. Though no one knew for sure.

All of this wore on the man’s nerves. Yet, if it came
to it, he’d readily put his life in her hands and he knew
it. Anyone at the station would. They all trusted her and as
head of this newly-formed task force, she was one leader who
didn’t take herself too seriously and was even noted for
being fun. She’s got the others snowed, he
sneered. But not me!

“Forgot,” he replied as his only defense. It had
been his turn to get their dinner and it was late when
they’d met up at the station. A blob of sauce from his
juicy sandwich fell onto his tie and he tried to wipe it off,
leaving a greasy stain. “Damn,” he muttered, licking
his napkin and rubbing the spot, trying to remove the stain that
way.

“Bullroar,” she groused, wondering why she put up
with his constant petty jealousies. Yet she had specifically
asked for him on her team, much to the complete dismay of her
boss, the Captain. This man she was now paired with was noted
for being belligerent, disrespectful, drinking too much and being
the world’s greatest chauvinist. But he had one talent
that stood out like no other in her opinion. He had a nose for
hidden trouble. She’d never seen anything like it. He
could mention something and the next thing you knew, that was
where trouble developed.

“You didn’t forget.” She looked over from
where she sat behind the wheel of their car and a slight smile
played across her lips. “I know what this is about. This
is because I hit a home run at last weekend’s ball game and
your new little girlfriend was all impressed. That’s what
it is, isn’t it? She called out “Go Kendal,
go” and kissed me on the cheek and you’ve been
pouting ever since.”

“Have not,” he pouted. Like many officers, he was
divorced. It was a bane of the business, along with alcoholism
and high suicide rates.

She jabbed him with her elbow. “Get over
yourself,” she grinned and he snorted.

“What about you?”

Kendal laughed aloud and for the life of him he couldn’t
help finding the soft, rumbling, dulcet tones of her throaty
laugh sexy, too.

He favored her with a casual smile, “Shit, you
fuckin’ broads are all alike,...” he
started.

“Careful,” she advised.

“What, you gonna write me up for insubordination?”
he challenged.

“Wouldn’t be the first time you were written up,
would it?” she warned.

There was no further comment as their attention was drawn to a
group of five or six women, obviously business women in business
clothes, making their way up the hill to the hotel entrance,
laughing and talking loudly. Some had their arms flung around
each other and their laughter and joshing created a small stir as
they passed. No one seemed offended, however. The women were
too well dressed and obviously too non-threatening for that.
They had been imbibing and were having a wonderful time, that was
quite obvious.

“Nice,” Dwayne said, pausing from shoveling food
into his mouth. “Whoee, very nice. Look at the tits on
that freakin’ leggy redhead.”

“Uh uh, none of that,” Kendal cautioned again with
a heavy sigh, watching the women’s group. It was downright
tiresome dealing with this man, but to her mind his gift
justified going to lengths normally not tolerated.

The women’s group looked like a regular assembly of
office cohorts out looking for a good time, which apparently
they’d found. She wondered if they were in the midst of
continued bar hopping. It was still early. “Better be
staying there,” she muttered. “From the shape
they’re in, I’d say they’re not going to make
it too many other places. Must be from one of the
conventions.” They were dressed well enough to be
customers of this particular classy hotel.

In the group was a small blonde with shoulder-length, slightly
curly hair, in a soft toned camel-colored skirted business suit
and what must have been a wicked wit, for every time she spoke,
they all broke into gales of laughter. She didn’t have her
arms around her friends but walked backwards as she talked with
them. Not an easy thing to do uphill, drunk and in heels.
Someone different in the group grabbed her every few minutes to
keep her from tripping. She didn’t seem to notice. Her
hands moved in concert with her words.

Kendal watched her in particular. She had an aire of
mischievousness and despite her slick packaging, her expensive,
well-tailored suit, well-coiffed hair, manicured nails, the small
blonde was decidedly cute. A smile spread across the tall
Lieutenant’s face just observing the woman.

“Maybe,” she replied, also watching carefully as
the women laughed their way into the hotel entrance then turned
quickly into the bar.

Now their attention was drawn across the steady stream of
traffic on the street to the taxi stand where two drivers had
gotten out and were arguing beside their cabs.

“What’s going on?” Dwayne
asked.

“I think the customers got in the second taxi and not
the first and the first guy is objecting,” Kendal chewed
her burger. Gods, she was tired of the kind of food they
ate.

The doorman slowly walked toward the cabbies frowning. He
said something and they watched the two drivers reluctantly get
back into their vehicles. The second cab pulled out squealing
his tires into the busy traffic. His passengers sat in back.
The two officers watched as the first cab driver flipped the
second one the bird.

“Jeez, grow up,” Dwayne remarked to the two
drivers. Obviously they couldn’t hear and Kendal
grinned.

“Some guys are so competitive,” Kendal tsked,
taking another bite of burger. Like at softball games,
she thought wryly.

“Hey, isn’t that Johnson?” Dwayne asked. He
set his unfinished burger aside and grabbed the camera. Kendal
did the same and grabbed the binoculars.

Their attention had moved to the man in the white suit at the
entrance to the hotel and the soft click of the camera caught him
in several poses. He was their prime suspect. The reason they
were there. This man was suspected of being heavily involved in
running drugs up and down the west coast. Kendal had stumbled on
his name accidentally and only once. He’d initially been
connected with ownership of a small fleet of tug boats that
worked in the Pacific with large tankers. But the more she dug,
the more often he began to show up in unusual places with unusual
connections.

He was standing at the door waiting. They glanced in the
direction he was watching and saw a young couple heading toward
the entrance. They knew the couple. He held the door and let
them in, then they saw the small group head the same direction
the women had, to the bar. It was imperative that they know
everyone that he was meeting.

“I’ll go check it out,” Kendal said. She
used a hand wipe to whisk the burger scent off her hands, reached
up and turned the overhead light off before the door triggered it
and opened the car door. She adjusted her stylish navy jacket
and reached for her purse, which she normally didn’t
carry. It had next to nothing inside. Her jacket was well cut
and did not show her sleekly designed shoulder holster molded to
her figure or the new issue handcuffs that she carried in her
belt to the side in the back of the matching, well-tailored
suited trousers. A white camisole top showed deep, olive tan, a
tan she never had to work hard to get, above her soft swell of
bustline. This outfit did not come off any store
rack.

She pulled her hair back, hoping it would make her look more
like the average tourist. She pulled out a pair of wire-framed
glasses and slipped them on. The glass had no correction. She
patted her pocket where her badge resided and Dwayne let his eyes
do a quick once-over. She was a beauty. But she was not to look
like an officer or be too noticeable. Her pantsuit looked
expensive, more expensive than most police officers could
afford. She had purposely chosen it for this
assignment.

“Lookin’ good,” he gave a thumbs up,
“good and sexy,” he leered. She scowled, shut the
door and headed toward the busy street in long, powerful
strides. She purposely slowed her pace as she moved all the way
down to cross at the light with the crowd at the far end of the
street, wanting to blend in with the tourists. She avoided the
doorman’s eyes as she entered and turned for the
bar.

“There! I tole ya’all she’d show up.
Ladies, that is what “The One” looks
like.” The blonde’s drunken drawl settled over her
group as Kendal entered the room. A modicum of merriment and
appreciation arose from the women’s table and all her
companions’ eyes tried to focus on the tall,
scholarly-looking brunette crossing to the bar.

Kendal spared them only a quick glance as her eyes adjusted to
the dimmed lighting. She moved to the end of the bar near a post
and ordered a drink. The bartender took her ten and went to get
her drink.

The brunette knew where the suspects were and was able to
glimpse who they were now talking to. Another man had joined
their group and they didn’t have his identity. Who was
this fellow? She knew all the players and he hadn’t shown
up before. She tried to gather as much information in a short
glance as she could. Middle aged, bald, light hair, round face,
ruddy complexion, maybe five ten--hard to tell sitting down,
about one eighty, expensive dark silk suit but seemed
uncomfortable in dress shoes. He kept lifting one foot as he sat
to rub at his toes.

Suddenly she saw the small blonde weaving her way towards her.
Gods, she thought, don’t draw attention to
me. She looked away. Her drink appeared and she took a
quick sip. She carefully kept her eyes off the suspects as
attention in the room began to settle on the small blonde who was
having a little difficulty maneuvering.

“Whoa,” the woman laughed, grabbing an empty chair
to balance herself. The refined blonde headed directly for where
Kendal was seated. The small woman’s camel-colored suit
jacket was unbuttoned and a hint of her firm, well-shaped breasts
held snugly in a white lace bra were evident beneath the top
button of her lighter, camel-toned satin blouse. Her clothing
was designed to make the highlights in her blonde hair and the
blueness of her eyes stand out and they did, Kendal had noted
briefly as the woman approached. She was a small beauty. Just
Kendal’s type. The Lieutenant’s attention went to
her drink. She ran a long digit slowly around the
rim.

The manicured fingers of both the blonde’s hands began
to lightly drum on the flat midriff section of her blouse as she
stood directly next to the tall brunette. Kendal did not look.
There was a healthy athleticism to the blonde’s small toned
build that was not necessarily noticeable in the soft curves from
afar. Kendal could smell a faint, powdery scent of expensive
perfume. She tried not to look at the woman.

The blonde’s alcohol dazed eyes fluttered then slid over
the tall woman on the bar stool as a “cat that swallowed
the canary’ look swept over the small drunken woman’s
face. She touched the tall beauty on the arm before tilting her
head. “You’re The One,” she smiled drunkenly.
There was a great deal of tease, even challenge, in her tone.

Kendal could see her make-up was flawlessly understated and
soft freckles stood out on her smooth skin. She was definitely
cute, but there was something flickering in her eyes, something
below the surface, something wilder, maybe. She certainly was
the type to take a dare, which Kendal thought this probably was.
That also appealed to the tall brunette.

“I am?” deep brown eyes settled on the
blonde.

“Yes, you’re The One,” the blonde repeated
with certainty. Her slight drawl was not completely
unnoticeable. “We’re talkin’ “bout one
day makin’ n’ honest women a’ me
an’..” Then her brow furrowed momentarily,
“Uh, seems like when a lady talks ta fellas in the movies
she says,” here the blonde dropped her voice a note,
“”one day yer gonna father mah
children.’” She giggled, “But, uh,” she
ran a hand through her blonde hair then the edges of her mouth
tweaked. She giggled again, “doesn’t seem to work
zactly right here, ya know?” She giggled once more.
“Bi-go-logic-shally impossible,” she slurred and
returned one hand to Kendal’s arm to steady herself.
Kendal was very aware of this beautiful woman’s hand on her
arm.

She wanted to glance at the suspects, but feared they were
watching. She kept her eyes on the blonde. “Then you
don’t have children?” Kendal asked, wondering how
many drinks this woman had had before submitting to this dare.
She was wearing no rings and was definitely a captivatingly
alluring woman. Not the type, she’d guess, that was used
to approaching unknown women in bars. In some other time and
place Kendal would not let this chance slip away. But not while
she was observing suspects.

The brunette watched the softly swaying, smiling figure beside
her and felt her body respond unintentionally to her. How long
had it been since she’d responded to a woman’s
touch? Too long, apparently.

“No,” the woman slurred, “Genevieve there
says “Show us the candidates. The clock’s
a’tickin’...’” She threw a look back at
her group, apparently to Genevieve. Then she turned back and
waggled her brows. “Get it?” She was feeling no
pain and looked quite comical waggling her brows. It was all
Kendal could do to keep from laughing out loud. This poor gal
was going to hate herself in the morning. The ladies at the
blonde’s table went into giggling fits at their
companion’s waggling brows.

“I see. And how do you know I’m of the, uh, right
mindset to be a candidate?” she asked. Kendal was not out
at work. She’d found no reason to be. But she harbored no
deep-seated trauma at the prospect. It was just easier all
around keeping her private life private.

“Oh,” the small woman looked coy. Her eye’s
swept Kendal’s long form “It would be a cryin’
shame if you weren’t. But if you’re not, I heartily
apologize and pray Ah haven’t insulted you any. Have
I?” Her head tilted to the side.

“No, not at all,” Kendal chuckled and reached a
hand out for the change the bartender was giving her. She leaned
forward and purred in the blonde’s ear, “But I
don’t have the equipment to beat the clock. Sorry.”
She enjoyed the way the blonde’s eyes shut as she spoke
then opened as she finished.

The blonde looked at Kendal with a puzzled gaze. Kendal could
see she was thinking about that. The brunette shot a quick
glance at the suspects. They were watching. She decided it was
better to leave before they became too familiar with what she
looked like. She stood and inched to the side behind the post,
just out of their view and looked downward at the blonde who was
a good head shorter than herself.

Another of the women from her group had headed over and now
grabbed the blonde’s arm. “C’mon, ya old
lush. Quit bothering this poor lady.”

“Who ya callin’ a lush, Phyliss Ann? I object,
yer honor. Bar her from the court.” Then she chuckled,
“Or court her from the bar. I like that better.”
She flashed a silly grin at her cohorts then looked back to see
the tall woman readying to leave. “Hey, don’t leave
yet,” the small blonde said to Kendal. “We gotta
talk. I just found ya.”

“Sorry, lady,” Phyliss Ann grinned, dragging the
blonde away. “She’s had a bit too much of the old
sauce.”

From behind the post Kendal took another quick drink of her
plain coke. She was unseen at the suspects’ table but she
could still see the blonde.

“You’re The One,” the blonde cheerfully said
again, pointing at Kendal as she walked backwards while her
friend dragged her back to their table.

“Your head’s gonna explode tomorrow,
Savannah,” Phyliss Ann laughed, “You’re sure
shit faced tonight.” She glanced at the tall brunette who
had thrown a tip down and was now stuffing the change in her
pocket, “Hope she didn’t bother you,” she
called softly. It was obvious the tall woman’s drink had
not been finished.

Kendal muttered, “No, that’s all right.”
She took another quick drink and let her eyes sweep the room.
People had gone back to their own conversations including the
suspects. But they’d noticed her and that was not good.
She stepped from behind the post, leaving a half-finished drink
and moved out.

Outside she hurriedly stepped into the busy street, stopping
to let a line of cars pass in each of the lanes before she made
her way across, muttering about her stupid luck. She gave Dwayne
the description of the man who’d been meeting the suspects
inside and he entered it in their electronic files and started a
quick search. With only a description, there was little hope of
an identification and they got none. Then she sighed heavily as
she shifted into the seat, “They spotted me in the
bar.”

He looked at her strangely. For someone as good looking and
tall as she was, she was quite skilled at staying to the
sidelines. He’d bet anything that she was rarely spotted.
“They saw your gun?” he asked. Sometimes if you
forgot and left your jacket unbuttoned that
happened.

She winced, “No. One of the drunk ladies from the group
came up to me to flirt and everyone watched. Crud, there’s
a chance they’ll know we’ve made them if they see me
again, depending on what I’m doing. But we need to find
out who that fellow was.”

“I know,” she remarked, deep in thought. The fact
that she was so casual about knowing made him even more annoyed
on the subject. He had to work to get every one of his dates.
Her admirers, male or female, fell in her lap. Not that she went
out all that much as far as anyone at the station
knew.

Still, it was a point of contention with him. All his
girlfriends asked about Kendal once they’d met her and it
wasn’t always because they were jealous that he worked with
such a beauty. Some of them found her entirely too attractive,
more attractive by far than him. He looked at her but suspected
she was going over the factors in the case. As far as he could
tell, she was never fazed with the personal stuff.

“Okay,” she said, “we know our prime suspect
is staying at that hotel.” She licked her lips,
“Maybe the other guy is, too. We know the couple is his
niece and her boyfriend, who works on one of the tankers.
We’ve seen them before. We’ll just wait. If the
other guy comes out, we’ll get a shot of him. If he
doesn’t come out, we’ll check with the desk once
business slows down and see what we can find
out.”

“Yeah,” Dwayne stuck more fries in his mouth.

“I want that young couple followed, too.
Stasler’s “sposed to be on
that.”

“He is. Saw him drive by a bit ago.”

Kendal jammed what was left of her dinner in the sack. She
couldn’t eat any more. She’d eaten enough to forget
her hunger. What was not forgotten, however, was the small
blonde and her declaration that Kendal was The One. She
couldn’t help smiling when she thought of the petite
woman. She was going to be one sick puppy the next day when the
alcohol began to want to pound its way out of her head. She
might even be worshipping at the porcelain goddess all night.
And she’d for sure feel like a first-class fool when she
sobered up. She didn’t envy the blonde any of that.
“Been there, done that,” she mumbled, thinking of her
long-gone college days. “Never
again.”

Dwayne looked over at her but didn’t ask what
she’d said.

She settled back in the seat and tossed the bag with the rest
of her dinner into the back seat. She might as well get
comfortable. It could be a long wait and night had firmly
settled over the city now. They’d be viewing everything by
city lights.

Even though she headed this group and could have stayed in the
office, she felt it was important that she keep her finger on
the pulse of what was happening. It was her initial discovery
that facilitated the group in the first place. She wanted the
edge that being out there gave her.

Surprisingly, before long they saw the young couple leave the
hotel. They both sat up at that. Before they’d always
stayed with the Uncle. Dwayne got some pictures. And they
waited. Through the lobby windows they saw the group of women
stagger from the bar and head to the elevators. Looked like it
was going to be lights out for them at this point. Kendal hoped
the blonde was staying with one of the others or that the other
women would be sure and walk her to her room. She was pretty
vulnerable seeing how drunk she was.

“Hey, aren’t those the same two cabbies?”
Dwayne asked. They moved their eyes to the line of cabs. Dwayne
picked up his camera and adjusted the telephoto lens.
“Looks like they’re both back. I don’t know.
Somethin’s damn hinkey with those
two.”

“Looks like it’s them, all right,” Kendal
agreed, moving her binoculars that way. The lights from the
hotel and the streetlights did a good job of illuminating the
area. She let her eyes run over the two men. They were standing
outside their cabs saying things to each other again and it
didn’t look any too friendly. “Where’s a
patrol car when you need one?” she muttered. “Crud,
even Stasler’s gone.” Then she noted, “And
there’s Johnson.” Through the glass doors they could
see him stop at the desk then head to the elevators. The ladies
were gone. “But where’s the other guy?”

They both kept intense watch on the lobby. Then she saw the
mystery man heading toward the hotel entrance doors.
“There he is. That’s him, Dwayne. See the man with
the bald head?”

“Got him,” Dwayne’s camera began to click
away as the man paused before moving the rest of the way out the
door. The fellow jaywalked across the busy street as Kendal had
done, headed to the parking garage they were in. “Shit,
he’s coming here,” Dwayne said, pressing back into
the seat. But they were in a darkened area away from what few
lights there were in the parking garage and they weren’t
likely to be spotted. He got some very clear pictures of the
man’s face by streetlight before the fellow turned and went
to the other side of this floor to where his car was parked.

Kendal stuck her head out the open car window and listened.
“He’s headed to the northeast corner,” she
whispered, “Get his license number, if you can. He’s
probably going out the back way.”

Dwayne was amazed at the woman’s hearing. He swore she
could hear a raindrop fall into the ocean. He reached up to the
dome light but she stopped him. “I already turned it
off.” She was whispering so that sounds did not carry on
the warm summer air inside the parking garage. He heard the
slight “brrr’ of her window as it rolled up. His was
still down. He slipped out the door and pressed it shut with a
soft click.

She glanced back at the hotel. “Wait!” There was
alarm in her voiced whisper. “What’s that cabby
doing?” They both drew their attention to the drivers
outside the hotel. The two cabbies were still outside their
cabs. One was standing, turned, talking to a third driver in his
cab and motioning angrily while the other was approaching behind
him, something in his outstretched hand. She lifted the
binoculars. “Mother of Mary, I think it’s a
gun!” she exclaimed. “Where’s the
patrol?” She checked the area, her hand on the
doorknob.

“Well, fuck! I gotta go if I’m gonna get our
suspect’s license,” Dwayne said. He could hear his
window rising. “Looks like you’re gonna hafta handle
that one, Boss.” He tapped the roof of the car lightly and
grinned with something closely akin to delight,
“I’ll call it in. Got your phone?” Without
waiting for an answer he disappeared into the
shadows.

“Yeah, you just don’t wanna hafta deal with
this,” Kendal slid out of the car, shutting the door
quietly. She automatically felt for the phone in her pocket.
“Got it.” She looked once more toward the cabs but
there was not a patrol car in sight. The first cabby had turned
and backed away, aware now of the danger. She was sure they
wouldn’t hear above the traffic if she shouted.

“Damn,” she muttered racing out to dodge her way
through the quickly moving traffic to cross the street,
“Looks like I drew the short straw.” She tried to
keep track of the action unfolding at the cab stand, but had to
divert her eyes to make sure reluctant traffic stopped for
her.

Dwayne hastened toward the back of the garage at a crouch, his
camera in hand. The mystery man started up his car and headed to
the back exit. He did not hear the two popping noises that got
everyone else’s attention. Nor did he see the man in the
shadows with the camera snapping his car’s
picture.

The first cab driver sank to the ground while the other looked
around quickly. He put the gun in his pocket and started running
for the hotel side entrance. In frustration Kendal slammed her
hand on a car’s hood, one that had not really wanted to
stop for her, as she finally made it through the traffic to get
there, then approached the hotel on the run.

“The stairway,” the doorman called to her,
recognizing her from her days as a street cop. The stairway
emptied into the lobby. Why would he go up? she wondered,
unless he’s just panicked. The shooting didn’t
look planned. Course, he could try and grab a hostage.
That’s a horrible thought. Or shoot someone else. But
hiding in a room wouldn’t help him. We could check every
room if we had to. She tore for the stairway door. She was
glad their prime suspect was no longer waiting for an elevator.
He’d most likely gone to his room. With any luck, she
wouldn’t run into him and he wouldn’t see her.

The minute she’d entered the stairwell she had heard the
man’s foot falls echoing as he quickly pounded up the
stairs above her. She could hear his heavy breathing. She
headed behind him at as fast a pace as she could. She utilized
a daily workout program and was in pretty good shape. He was not
likely to be as well off, but he was armed and dangerous and
adrenaline could push you to heights you’d never imagine
possible. If it comes to that, I’m armed and dangerous,
too, she decided.

She knew there were at least fifteen floors in this building.
She didn’t think he was in good enough shape for even half
that. She hoped not. She also knew why Dwayne wasn’t the
one doing this. He wouldn’t have made it up five floors
without calling an ambulance for himself.

She was gaining on the cabby as she passed level four and had
plans to reach him by the sixth floor. Now if everyone just
stayed out of the stairwell. She unbuttoned her jacket as she
ran. She was sweating and the bizarre thought occurred to her
that she was ruining one of her very best suits. Her blouse, for
sure. She heard the sirens and knew from the sounds it was both
the ambulance and the police. Dwayne had called it in. Good
job, Dwayne, she was panting now, Next time, you chase,
though.

She was rounding the corner heading up five and could see the
cabby’s legs moving toward six. He was slowing. Suddenly
his wheezing torso leaned over the rail and his gun appeared. He
was younger than she’d thought. “Stay back, or
I’ll shoot,” he rasped. She jumped back and quickly
pulled her gun. “Stop! Police!” she warned.
“Stay where you are!”

His torso disappeared and he turned on six, fear of pursuit
urging him upward more quickly. He had to be wondering how
he’d gotten so unlucky as to have a police officer on his
trail so soon.

She pushed herself now and climbed two stairs at a time,
knowing that subduing him would be the tricky part. She could
hear his labored breathing but was forced to stay back half a
flight for protection since he was turning back her way often
now.

She called to him again, “Police! Stop where you are!
Police!” Ignoring her, he passed six and headed to seven.
Sweat was pouring down his forehead and his shaggy hair was stuck
to his head. She had to get him before he decided to enter one
of the floors. The risk of guests being there was much greater
than in the stairwell.

She saw him pause and reach for the handle to the seventh
floor door. She turned the corner landing and pointed her gun
with both hands in a police stance. “Stop where you
are,” she called between heavy breaths. He was gasping,
his whiskered mouth open full, but he whipped his gun her
direction and dove for the stairs going up. Then he turned his
back and moved up as fast as he could. Damn! She
didn’t want to shoot him in the back. She followed,
consciously aware of the danger of his gun.

He was going to get into one of the halls. Probably the
next. She had to stop him here. She’d been lucky that no
guests had been in the stairway but her luck couldn’t hold
forever. Still she was very reluctant to shoot in such an
enclosed but ultimately public space. No telling where a
ricocheting bullet would end in a tubed area like this.
Everything she knew whispered to her to hold fire, check for
options first.

She could hear noises in the stairwell below them and knew it
was probably the police. However, it might not be. She had to
be ready for anything.

As he passed the halfway point towards eight, he had slowed
considerably. She quickened her pace, staying crouched and
climbed behind him, staying below the rail. He was audibly
gasping now, one hand on his chest. Closing rapidly, she made
the instantaneous decision and sprang around the turn toward him
as he strained upward for eight. She saw him turning his gun her
way, and all time seemed to stop.

She saw the chrome automatic and tracked where the muzzle was
going as her body moved through the air. She was beyond the cusp
of choice. Once she had thrown herself at him, she gave up
having the drop on the man. Her free hand wrapped around his
ankle as she watched the barrel of his gun steadily walk towards
her. There was fear on his face as he squeezed the trigger.
She yanked, throwing him off balance and time again flew. His
shot was wide, not missing her by much but taking a chink out of
the concrete stair by her foot and ricocheting around the well.

Automatically she yanked again with all her considerable might
and the husky man began to tumble down the stairs feet first
toward her. She chopped his hand as he neared before he could
manage to fire again and the gun flew clattering away. In
seconds she had stopped his fall with her knee and had her new
issue plastic handcuffs out. Then she was cuffing the gasping
man to the rail. Both of them were doing a good job of sucking
air, he much worse off than she. She stopped to bend over to get
her breath as he lay back on the stairs, his chest heaving
dramatically.

She kicked the fallen gun out of the way and heard the
officers directly behind her. “Hands up, police!”
the first officer called, his gun in both hands trained on her.
“Don’t move!”

“I’m police, I’m police!” she called
to him as she kept her hand with the gun in the air and slowly
lifted her wallet from her pocket with forefinger and thumb of
the other hand. She flicked it open to show her gold shield. A
swarm of officers were panting up the stairs behind
him.

“You got him, Lieutenant Deetrie,” one of the
trailing officers called. “You ran him down!” The
woman officer looked at her admiringly and spoke between her own
deep breaths. “Great work, jees.” All the officers
with her were also breathing heavily.

“Yeah, but I’m undercover here,” she
frowned, now blowing out small concentrated puffs with each
exhale. “You guys take over. I’ll file my statement
at the station.” She quickly brushed some of the dirt from
the stairs off her suit.

“You got it,” the officer replied. Kendal looked
down at the perp. He was sucking in air as hard as he could,
wheezing, and his face was agonized. She wondered if
they’d have to take him to the hospital before jail. She
could hear people opening stairwell doors on different floors,
drawn by the noises. She had to get out of there before she was
spotted.

She took giant strides and hurriedly pulled open the heavy
door. She stepped into the plushly carpeted hall, glad that no
one on eight had been curious enough to chase the sound of the
gunshot into the stairway.

She leaned back for a minute against the door, calming her
breathing while she holstered her gun. Shoulder holsters fit
women better than men, generally, because of the natural slope of
a woman along the rib cage and hers was such a perfect fit that
it seemed to flow around her curves. You simply could not tell
she had it on. But, of course, she had to wear a jacket to hide
it.

In this suit, her jacket was also designed to make her gun
unnoticeable. The cut was perfect and the fabric flowed
flawlessly. She slipped her badge wallet into her pocket and
brushed more dust off her pants. She wiped her forehead,
buttoned her jacket, took one last deep breath and forced herself
to stroll the hall with even breaths. If their suspect came out,
she hoped she’d look like she was a guest who belonged on
this floor.

Breathing more easily, she headed to the elevator. A couple
was already there waiting. She joined them, climbing in when the
down car stopped. It passed seven then six but stopped on five.
When the door opened, there was the blonde holding her
room’s empty ice tub with an inquisitive look on her face
as she pounded on the elevator button. She was definitely three
sheets to the wind. “Where’s the ice machine?”
she asked with a giggle. The couple stepped back.

“Uh, down the other end of the hall,” the man
said, pointing. The blonde then noticed the tall brunette.

“I’ll show her,” Kendal said and stepped off
the elevator. She grabbed the blonde’s arm and turned her
the other way. She heard the elevator doors shut behind
them.

Fire flashed in blue eyes. “Hey!” the blonde
frowned and yanked her arm away. “Don’tcha get rough
with me. I’m warnin’ ya. I don’t put up with
that...” her voice was sharp with caution and admonition,
“...schtuff.” Then she giggled.

How could she change gears like that? Kendal mused. Must be
the alcohol. She also wondered what in the world the small woman
thought she might do if someone did have violent intentions
toward her. She was light enough to throw over one’s
shoulder and so intoxicated that she could barely stand.
She’d left her heels somewhere because now she was in her
stocking feet and was shorter still. She most likely
didn’t have any idea of how to fend off any kind of attack,
yet Kendal didn’t see her as completely helpless either.
Enough, though, to be cautious.

Blue eyes looked up at Kendal as they walked, “My
bi-go-logican clock is ticking,” she said almost shyly,
unaware she had stumbled over the word “biological”.
She spoke as if they’d been close friends
forever.

Now that they were alone Kendal wanted to ask exactly what
this woman had in mind for her. The small blonde had certainly
been more than forward and flirtatious, but she’d also been
more than slightly under the influence and that spoke of getting
her back to her room, safely tucked in and nothing more. Still,
what a fascinating dichotomy of elegance and cuteness, poise and
shyness, sensuality and the girl-next-door simplicity she was.
Kendal was considerably intrigued.

“Tick tock, tick tock,” the blonde continued. She
sighed heavily, “Gotta hurry.” She stopped, put a
hand on Kendal’s arm and looked up with great earnestness,
“I’m thirty three.”

Kendal had to work at not laughing. Gods, this woman was
cute. “Uh, why do you need ice?” she asked softly as
the woman removed her arm and they again started down the hall
toward the room that held the ice machine. Even intoxicated the
small blonde moved her body with a natural almost animal grace.
Kendal’s mind registered the perfection of the petite body
beside her and wondered how many years of dance she’d taken
to move that well when drunk.

“Why, for a drink, of course,” the woman replied.
“Could I interest you in a drink?”

“Maybe you should have some coffee,” Kendal
suggested.

“Coffee?” the blonde laughed derisively then
sobered instantly. She stopped and grabbed Kendal’s arm,
peering at her with great concern, “I’m sorry. I
din’t mean ta be implite. They have better coffee here
than anywhere I’ve ever been in my whooole life.”
She swayed for a minute, “But I doan wan any coffee right
now.” Now she perked up, “A drink, that’s
what I need. How about you? Wanna drink?” She dropped
her arm and started busily down the hall again without waiting
for a reply.

“All right,” Kendal said, trailing after her.
“Do you know where your room is?” They were almost
to the ice machine.

“My room?” the woman stopped again. “Uh,
where is my room?” She began to look around. Her free
hand came up to tap its fingers lightly on her flat midriff as
she thought.

“Do you have a key card?” Kendal asked. Maybe the
room number was on that.

“Uh, do I have a key card?” the small woman
parroted. She tried to put her fingers in her decorative jacket
pocket but the pocket was only for show. Then she laughed.
“Do YOU have a key card?”

“No. I don’t have anything to drink in my
room.”

“Oh, are you here for the DA convention,
too?”

“Here I am,” Kendal fudged. “So,
where’s your room?”

The blonde looked around puzzled. “Why are we in this
hall? My room’s not this way,” she stood wavering,
looking up and down the hall as she tilted from side to side, one
hand softly tapping on her midriff. She stopped. “My
shoes,” she said.

“Yes, you have no shoes on,” Kendal replied
looking again at the nylons on the woman’s small feet.
Dear heavens, Kendal thought, trying to get a drunk
back to their room is not an easy proposition. Then the
small woman started off again away from the ice machine back the
way they’d come.

“All right. You lead, I’ll follow,” Kendal
muttered, following behind, her eyes flickering over the
enchanting form of the petite woman before her.

They moved back to the elevators and stopped so the small
blonde could look around again. Then she laughed. “My
shoes,” she stated proudly.

Kendal looked down the main hall and saw the end of a heel
sticking out into the hall. Apparently it was keeping the door
ajar. She led the small blonde down that way toward room
5114.

“I’m tired,” the small blonde said as they
headed to her room.

“You probably are,” Kendal said softly.
“You’ve had a lot to drink.”

“Yes,” the blonde replied. “I had a
wonnnndddderful time.” They got to the room and she
stooped to pick up her shoe. Kendal put a hand on the door to
stop it from closing as the blonde examined the shoe.
“Yep, it’s mine.” She stuck it in the empty
ice bucket and they entered the room.

As they moved inside Kendal could see that it housed two
women. Each queen sized bed had a suitcase on it and clothes
were strewn about the room, some in a size too large for the
small blonde. “Where’s your room partner?”

The small blonde put the bucket with the shoe on the end of
the bed and looked back at her. “She had a hot
date,” she laughed then grabbed Kendal by the lapels of her
jacket as the slowly shutting room door clicked shut behind
them. “Kiss me,” she demanded as her forearms
inadvertently brushed against the taller woman’s breasts,
causing Kendal to take a swift intake of breath. Even inside her
jacket she could feel her nipples harden. The blonde’s
arms stretched up to go around Kendal’s neck and into her
hair to pull her head down.

“Uh,” Kendal looked down into the blonde’s
half-mast blue eyes, closing as the woman rose on her tiptoes,
her soft pink lips moving upward, a flush of desire in her
cheeks. Was it wise to argue with this woman? No, Kendal
decided, she was too drunk. Besides, what was the harm? A quick
peck.

Kendal’s arms moved around the smaller woman’s
waist and she leaned down.

Once their lips touched, the small blonde pressed her body
against the brunette’s with a sensual energy that made
Kendal gasp. She was more than aware that silky breasts, tight
midriff and firm thigh were taunting her body.

As graceful as a cat with its prey the small woman managed to
dislodge them from their standing position, pulling backward just
enough for them to lose balance and tumble onto the bed, Kendal
on top. Savannah moaned deeply, her hands on either side of
Kendal’s face. The blonde’s searching tongue entered
Kendal’s mouth again, this time building a white-hot fire
at the same time that her hands moved further into the tall
brunette’s hair, grabbing handsful and forcing the
brunette’s mouth into the full passion of this
kiss.

As the slowly writhing body below her moved, forcing a thigh
against Kendal’s crotch, the brunette could hear herself
joining in the moaning. The blonde was twisting, pressing and
demanding and began sucking Kendal’s tongue till
perspiration broke out all over the tall brunette’s body
and a ferocious hunger rocked her hips, instantly igniting a
fiery, passionate blaze throughout the tall woman’s body.
Gods! Every cell to her core became alert with a devouring
ache.

Sweet Jesus! she couldn’t believe the instant
height of her arousal. She tried to free her hands that were
pinned under the small blonde’s body. She’d never
been kissed like this in her life. Kendal’s eyes sprung
wide open as she tried to wrestle free, but the small woman
didn’t stop.

Finally the blonde had to breathe. She released her hold and
let her head fall back to the covers with the sexiest look on her
face. “Oh yeah,” she grinned, blue eyes making
contact with brown, “you’re The One all
right.” A pleased countenance wrapped itself across the
blonde’s face. “You smell like sweat,” she
intimated. “I like that in sex, don’t
you?”.” She shut her eyes.

Kendal pushed aside her shock and scrambled to get off the
bed, vaulting upright with a force she didn’t know she
had. As though she had been burned, she moved several quick
steps away from the bed. Then she felt her phone vibrating in
her pocket. “Uh, ‘scuse me a minute.” She
pulled out her phone.

One blue eye opened. “Who is it? Is it for
me?”

“No, probably my mother,” Kendal said and turned
her back while she flipped open the phone. “Hello,
Mother?” she said, still feeling the fiery humm in her body
and barely controlling the tremor in her voice.

“Where the fuck are ya?” Dwayne grumbled.
“Christ, they said you weren’t hit or nothin’.
I had to stand here and listen to “em blow air out their
butts about your marvelous pursuit and all that shit.
You’d think they’d never seen a damn cop chase
someone before. Hell, they’ve nearly got the whole
fuckin’ thing cleaned up down here already. What’s
the holdup?”

“What? What in the fuck are you talkin’ about?
Regular what? Shit, we need to get a move on. Where the hell
are ya?”

“Yes, that’s what I understand it does. Uh huh.
I, uh,” she glanced at the blonde who now had both eyes
closed, “got held up.” She turned her back to the
blonde again. “Soon, all right? Very
soon.”

“Just one thing,” Dwayne warned,
“Johnson’s out with the freakin’ crowd.
You’d better avoid the goddam front entrance. I got the
license number. Now THAT took skill. Dammit all, I thought
you’d wanna hurry and check it out.”

“Yes, that would be correct.”

“Wait! Did you call me a mother fucker when you
answered?” he asked suspiciously, “Is that what you
said to me?”

“No, I most certainly did not. Should I
have?”

“What? No! What in the hell’s goin’ on?
I’m down here in the fuckin’ car waitin’ and
you’re in there doin’ what? Gettin’ more babes
ta drop at yer fuckin’ feet or some damn thing I
suppose?”

Kendal took a quick glance at the small blonde. Her chest was
moving rhythmically up and down. “Soon, uh, next street
down the hill,” she replied, thinking of the crowd in
front. She wanted to avoid Johnson.

“You want me to drive to the back
street?”

“Yes. And wait. Soon.”

“Well, why in the fuck didn’t you say so? Shit, I
wouldn’t a been down here wastin’ my fuckin’
time waitin’. Honest to Pete, you god-damned fuckin’
women don’t know your asses from...”

“Careful!” Kendal closed the phone and slipped it
into her pocket. Yes, she was going to have to do something
about Dwayne.

She turned to face the blonde. “I’m sorry I have
to run, but...” she looked at the smile on the
blonde’s face then heard the soft sound of a snore. She
stood and stared. The blonde was sound asleep. She looked
around for an extra blanket and put it over the small woman.

“Are you sure I’m the one?” she whispered,
“cause I seem to put you to sleep.” She planted a
light kiss on the blonde’s forehead. This demon of a
kisser looked so sweet and innocent in sleep. Without thinking,
Kendal brushed a wisp of blond hair off her forehead. A
thoroughly angelic look blessed the sleeping features, which was
totally contrary to the distress this small whirlwind had caused
throughout the tall woman’s body. You don’t seem
to put ME to sleep, though, do you? she noted as the
unreleased, awakened hum remained surging within her. It had
been a good long time since she’d had to deal with that
kind of persistent throbbing.

Kendal had wined and dined and discretely slept with her share
of women over the years. But her outrageous hours as a
policewoman and even her hours at the FBI Academy seemed to
eliminate any chance of a serious encounter of longer duration.
Although there had been the tall, thin blonde Swedish girl at the
Academy that might have developed into something more serious.
Once their assignments took them in different directions,
however, they’d lost track of each other.

She looked to the gentle, even breathing of the sleeping
blonde. This was a woman she could definitely go for. She heard
another soft snore and stifled a chuckle as she quietly flicked
the light out and left the room. It was a surprisingly lonely
feeling walking away from the small whirlwind. But
Dwayne’s waiting car would be in the back street and she
had work to do and mysteries to solve.

It was very late by the time she’d filed her report
regarding the arrest of the cabby and the shot that was fired.
Anytime a shot was fired, the paperwork and scrutiny increased
immensely. And it certainly put an extra twist of interference
they didn’t need into their own case. She groaned at the
extra work.

During the wee hours of the morning Kendal thought of the
small blonde again as she finally put her head on her pillow.
She hoped the woman’s hangover wasn’t too bad. Then
she thought of the kiss. That kiss had been unlike anything
she’d ever experienced before. She wondered just how much
of a wild cat this little blonde was. She could see there could
be benefits to being The One for the lovely blonde
Savannah.

-***-

Early the next morning Kendal had Dwayne download his pictures
then proceed to check on the mystery man’s license number.
She suspected her part-time partner was hung over and wondered
how he could go out drinking with the boys so late after work and
still be in on time in the morning. She didn’t think she
could do it.

Dwayne had transferred from a larger police force and was the
newer version of the old dinosaur. He drank, swore and had
little respect for anyone not a white male, particularly women.
He had adequate police experience, on paper at least, although
there were some write-ups that were mostly slaps on the wrist.
But Kendal recognized more in him.

The Captain called her in and stood at his door giving Dwayne
a long look as Kendal walked in. He shut the door and settled
his bulk into his chair before he leaned forward to question her
once again about the advisability of having Dwayne on her team.
“He talks about you behind your back,” he frowned.

Prejudice against women was certainly not unknown in the
good-old-boy atmosphere of law enforcement. Even in this modern
day it was not all that uncommon. But on a team where the woman
was a leader, it could be deadly. Kendal knew that. The Captain
folded his arms, “Says things when he’s out drinking
and it ferments trouble. It’s not good for morale. Some
of the guys, uh, want him gone. I thought you should know
that.”

She was surprised the guys had gone to Cap and not to her.
She’d have to work on that. “I’ll talk to
him,” she agreed. “He’s got a good nose for
trouble, Colin. With how hard leads are to come by in this case,
that’s a big windfall. I’d rather put up with some
of his nonsense to get that.”

“I don’t see it, Kendal. I listened to what you
told me and I listened to him. Seems to me like he just makes
comments like any of the other fellas. I haven’t seen this
great gift you think he has.”

“Are you telling me I HAVE to bump him out of the
group?”

“No. This is your team. I’m just saying,
he’s trouble. And some of the other guys are uncomfortable
with him.” He studied her carefully. Her record was
flawless and her background put her on the fast track. But her
style was the complete opposite of his. She was all about
compromise. He most definitely was not. Still, she was his
protŽgŽ of sorts. It was his job to see that she
succeeded. After all, the Chief had made it crystal clear to all
the police Captains that they were to do everything to make sure
their city didn’t look guilty of holding women back. She
was his ace.

“Well, I appreciate that you’re watching out for
me and the guys. I really do. And I thank you for the advice.
But I’d like to keep him on the team for now. I will talk
to him, though.”

“It’s your party,” the Commander said
dismissively. As she rose to leave, he had to wonder if
he’d misjudged her. Dwayne was not good for her team, he
was sure of that. Oh, he was a good enough cop. But he
wouldn’t rise to any kind of fame. Not in their force
under today’s scrutiny. Their Chief was clear about that.
And Dwayne’s attitude was deeply antagonistic to women.
She should have seen that. After all, it was her the man was
constantly attacking.

Kendal pulled Dwayne aside and warned him about talking behind
her back. He asked who’d reported him and she sloughed it
off. Then she warned him that he was on the fast track to being
bumped off the team if it continued. He snorted his displeasure
and said nothing, but he thought she was just trying to throw her
weight around. So like a broad to try and show she’s
the boss. As if! he snarled to himself.

Stasler’s report was phoned in from the country. It let
her pulse race a little. It had the potential of being a new
lead. There’d been precious few of those after the initial
discoveries.

The young couple Stasler was following had ended up staying at
a large farmhouse on a side country road off the main road to the
mountains. A huge party of young people complete with ultra-loud
music, had assembled, still was going on, and she wondered at the
drug potential. She assigned Stasler to continue tailing them
and pay particular note of anyone they associated with for any
period of time, if he could. Another team member was assigned to
check who owned the property, who was living there now and any
other information he might be able to dig up.

She mentioned it to Dwayne, watching his reaction carefully,
but he was uninterested for the most part. Instead he studied
the information he’d found regarding the license plate
number as Kendal watched over his shoulder. The car was licensed
to an unfamiliar company in Washington. “Check that
out,” she tapped at the information. “I wanna know
everything you can find out about that
company.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he remarked with little enthusiasm.
He looked to catch the eye of any of the other men, hoping to
flash a derisive look of understanding from them, but all were
busy. He snorted softly and put his attention back on his
screen. He’d do her request later.

She noted his reaction, and weighed it against the potential
loss of his “nose for trouble” if she had to push too
hard too soon. Till she was more familiar with how he
functioned, she decided to let it go. She could always stamp
hard later, although it wasn’t the best leadership
technique and she knew Colin was watching her carefully in that
regard.

Dwayne searched all kinds of files looking for identification
on the man. Finally he got a match to go with his face shot.
The fellow’d been booked locally for brawling and one DUI
but nothing else major. Nothing with drugs. The suspect’s
main address was listed as Alaska. “Kinda strange
havin’ an Alaskan address, isn’t it?” Dwayne
remarked aside as he ran off the information for
her.

“Strange how?” Kendal preferred when he used the
word “hinkey”. Anything with that word had all been
trouble spots as far as she knew.

“Hell, I dunno. Nothin’ I guess.”

“Kinda hinkey, you mean?” she tried to
clarify.

“Fuck, I dunno. Maybe. Yeah.”

Kendal made a mental note to have the Alaskan address
thoroughly checked out.

After lunch Dwayne made some comment to one of the other
fellows as Kendal entered the building. Dwayne laughed but the
other man scowled and walked away. Kendal decided she was going
to have to keep him so busy that he didn’t have time to get
himself into trouble.

She had him begin checking the new mystery company while she
set another member checking the Alaskan address. Then she
slipped out to run some errands. In between she found herself at
the desk of the exclusive hotel asking about the inhabitants of
room 5114 from the night before.

“Checked out early this morning. Took the airporter.
That’s a Ms. Genevieve St. James, officer,” the clerk
said.

“There were two people staying in the room,”
Kendal replied, checking quickly to make sure their prime suspect
wasn’t around. He didn’t need to hear her being
addressed as “officer”.

“Uh, yes, that’s correct. Ms. St. James made a
reservation for two. They were with the group from
Georgia.”

Georgia? Kendal thought. I thought I heard a soft
southern accent there. Crimony, could she be any further
away? “Do you have the other woman’s
name?” she asked. “I believe it was Savannah
something or other.”

“Were they in trouble?” the clerk asked. He knew
some of their convention customers had been drinking to excess
the night before.

“No,” Kendal replied, “but they might have
been witnesses to what, uh, occurred here, uh, last
evening.” No hotel wanted to talk about bad things
happening in or around their facility, so she was trying to be
very discreet.

“I’m sorry. We just have Ms. St. James’
name but I can give you her contact information if you’d
like.”

“Yes, thank you,” Kendal smiled, checking around
her again. “That will be fine.” She looked at the
address for the woman that the clerk handed her and sighed.
Who do I know in Georgia to check this out? She
didn’t want to use too many of her police means here for
fear of being found out. Spending her time chasing down women
was not what she considered a valid use of resources. Who can
I call to dig up background on the enchanting little
Savannah?

-***-

Savannah sat in one of the plastic chairs at the gate waiting
area, her head down. Their first flight had been ghastly,
undeterminably long and she’d felt miserable, holding the
provided bag before her ready should she need to throw up,
although she’d done enough of that during the night. If
she let her head sink any lower now, she figured she could wend
off nausea by having it be completely between her legs.

What was it about conventions far from home that allowed
attendees to over imbibe and act like stupid fools, she
wondered? She could hear her companions softly conversing, but
for a long time she didn’t join them. She felt like pure,
unadulterated crud.

She’d had aspirin and even a beer. “The hair of
the dog,” they’d told her. “LIES!” she
wanted to shout, not that shouting was a good idea in her
condition. The beer had not helped at all. As it was, she was
afraid to even whisper. Nothing helped. She was sure her sweat
was pure gin. Her head was pounding and her stomach was doing an
unknown version of a fevered break dance. Bloodshot blue eyes
lifted to the others as they awaited their connecting flight in
Chicago. Theirs was a motley looking crew today. They were far
less chipper than they had been the night before.

“Shoot me next time,” she grumbled. “Or do
it now.” Her friends all chuckled softly, trying not to
jar their own hangovers too badly.

“You nearly beat your biological clock on this
trip,” Phyliss Ann said softly, “you and the lady you
picked as “The One”.

Genevieve, who had consumed far less alcohol, spoke
conversationally, “Yeah, you always talk about The One, but
you’ve never shown us what you meant by it before. Lordy,
that woman was fine. I bow to your great shrewdness of
choice.” She did a short bow then moaned from having moved
too much.

“Yeah, but Savannah all but attacked the poor thing in
the bar,” Phyliss Ann continued. They all chuckled very
softly. “Scared her off.”

“Oh, please, don’t remind me,” Savannah
groaned. They all chuckled, but soft brown eyes flitted into her
memory and she wondered if she’d just imagined the tall
beauty in her room. She thought of the kiss. Was it
real, she wondered, or just a dream? Was that The One?
Oh, yes, it surely was, if it was at all real. “I
don’t even know her name,” she moaned.

-***-

The next morning Kendal noticed Dwayne doing the same thing.
He made a comment to a group of men as she entered then laughed,
but Kendal faced them all, looking them in the eye, moving her
stern glance from one to the other. “Gentlemen,” she
said. They nodded, mumbled “Good morning” and walked
away in embarrassment. He’d obviously said something
belittling or sexist about her.

She moved to a chair by where Dwayne had just seated himself.
“Are you trying to get kicked off this team?” she
asked softly so the others couldn’t hear. “Because
if that’s your intent, consider it done. You can leave.
I’ll assign someone else to your
spot.”

Dwayne looked up in shock. “I’m not...”

She raised a hand to silence him. Her normally warm eyes had
turned hard and much darker. She was noted for enjoying a joke
and having a good sense of humor, but the fellows had warned him
that you didn’t want to get on the bad side of her. She
was not the deadly serious, brisk, humorless straight-arrow
shooter the Captain was. She’d be on the team with you.
And compromise was her strength. But there was a line. And
crossing it would bring consequences.

“Last chance, Dwayne. The boss wants you off. Some of
the fellas want you off. You’ve become an embarrassment.
You’re fighting battles that have no place on this team.
And you’re playing dirty. I happen to think you’ve
got what it takes to be a helluva detective if you get your crap
together. But I’m your only remaining hope. Any more of
that shit like you just pulled with those guys and you’re
gone. And I mean any breath of anything inappropriate. Got
it?”

“I didn’t...”

“Got it?”

He shrugged and looked away.

“As long as we understand each other.” She got up
and walked off. There was no question. He understood her that
well. This was his last chance. Damned
broads!

Kendal found her mind constantly floating back to the small
blonde. No matter how busy she got, beautiful blue eyes and a
kiss that took her breath away invaded her thoughts. She made a
point in her free time to see what background she could find
out.

“Savannah?” Kendal’s friend replied.
“Sure, I know a Savannah that’s an assistant DA.
Savannah Vollier. Works out of the Melsun Heights office in
Tagulla. That’s not too far from here. But you’d
best leave that little blonde alone, Tiger. Folks where I work
call her Savannah the Ice Bitch.”

“Why?” Kendal found that hard to believe.
She’d finally remembered a police friend from the Academy
who got a job in Atlanta, so Kendal called her to try and get
some information on the blonde.

“Because she can be sweet as pie one minute then turn to
ice before your very eyes and rip your heart out, that’s
why.”

“And you know this how?” Kendal
asked.

“Oh, Gods, you really are interested. Well, all I know
is that nearly everyone I know calls her “Bitch’ and
most put “Ice’ in front of it. There’re some
attorneys in the Tagulla’s DA’s office that are
pretty nice people. Us cops all like “em, but she’s
not one of “em. Except the fellas. They all drool over
her, not that she bats on their team you
understand.”

“That sounds pretty general, Joy. What exactly does she
do that’s so bad?”

“Okay, look, I’ve got this friend, Carmen.
She’s the sweetest person you’d ever hope to meet and
a helluva cop. Big girl. She was testifying in a case the Ice
Bitch worked. She’s real friendly to the blonde and the
blonde is friendly back. Carmmy thinks things are going good.
They talk and laugh about the case and Carmmy really likes her.
They’re gettin’ real chummy. Then my friend finally
works up enough nerve to ask the broad out and that little hussy
turned to ice. Couldn’t turn her down fast enough, like
Carmen wasn’t good enough for her or
something.”

“Maybe she doesn’t do much dating. We’ve
all turned people down, Joy. It doesn’t mean we
don’t like them. Sometimes it’s just
timing.”

“She dates. We’ve all seen her at the club from
time to time, but always with some doctor or other lawyer or big
social climber. You know the type, phony smiles, money up the
kazoo.”

“Oh,” Kendal paused to think. That didn’t
sound like the same woman she’d met at the hotel although
the blonde did dress fashionably and expensively. “Small
blonde about five four, nice figure, long sorta curly blonde
hair, blue eyes, wicked smile? Same
person?”

“Don’t know about the smile, but the rest sounds
like her. I hear she wins a ton of cases. She’s hell on
wheels in a drug sting, makes ya cross yer t’s and dot yer
i’s. But she’s a shit of a person, you ask me. I
wouldn’t put my heart in her care, I’ll tell ya
that. Carmmy’s just now getting over it and this happened
a good six months ago or more.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, so how did you meet the Ice
Bitch?”

“Uh,” Kendal didn’t want to call her the Ice
Bitch, “uh, Savannah was at a convention here in
Edgeway.”

“Edgeway? Where’s that?”

“Near Seattle.”

“Really? That where you are now? Space Needle and
everything?”

“Yep. I like it here.”

“Wait a minute. I remember, your Mom lived there or
something.”

“Yes. She has a nice apartment in what they call a
retirement village in Seattle proper. She, uh, has talked about
moving in with me cause she doesn’t think I eat right. But
so far I’ve talked her into staying
there.”

Joy snorted a laugh. “I remember the stories you used
to tell about your Mom interrogating your dates and driving some
of them off. What a hoot.”

“Yeah. Didn’t seem so funny at the time. But
it’s humorous now.”

“So what do they call you out there? Bet nobody calls
ya Tiger like we used to and gets away with
it.”

“No, they just call me Lieutenant or Deetrie or just
plain Kendal. Although one of the guys on my team sometimes
calls me “ma’am’, the twerp. Does it to annoy
me cause I’m older than he is.”

“Gods, he probably has a giant crush on ya like half the
other guys did.”

“Dwayne? I don’t think so.”

“Well, if you ever come down this way, look me up.
We’ll do the town.”

“Thanks, Joy, I will. And thanks for the
information.”

“You bet. Just remember my warning. Watch out for the
Ice Bitch. See ya round, Tiger.”

“Bye, Joy.”

Kendal hung up the phone and sat back. Could that possibly be
the same blonde she was describing, the one with the
all-consuming kiss? Savannah didn’t seem at all like a
heart breaker. She was aggressive for such a little thing, but
she was a DA. They tended to be aggressive. And all the other
women the blonde’d been with seemed to like her really
well. She was the life of their party.

Kendal shook her head. Well, at least it gave her a last name
for Savannah...Vollier. And she knew where the blonde
worked.

-***-

No one could understand why Kendal pursued the Alaskan address
with such diligence when she had other developing leads she was
not giving nearly as much attention. The address seemed to be
relatively insignificant. Even Dwayne found her zealousness
puzzling. When they received word that it was a fishing cabin on
a heavily wooded island far up river from town, and that it was
near a broken down, long-abandoned Indian settlement, most
shrugged. All right. Alaska had its share of those.

But Kendal persisted. She called the police force at the
nearby small town, sweet-talking one of the officers for a good
thirty minutes until he agreed to take a small skiff up to the
area to get some pictures for her.

“People there like to live and let live,” she said
hanging up the phone. “He didn’t see any point in
checking out an area where they’ve had no trouble. But I
talked him into it.”

Colin stood at his door. “Hmmm. It’s your
party,” he muttered. The Captain wasn’t sure she was
utilizing her time well, either. But he’d put his faith in
her. No turning back now.

“This’s gonna be valuable, Colin,” she said
to the Captain as she moved closer to him. “Wait and
see.” She prayed Dwayne meant it when he allowed
“hinkey” to be used to describe this address. So far
that word had been a 100 per cent accurate indication of trouble
when Dwayne used it.

Colin maintained his constant scowl, nodded shortly and walked
back into his office. She was his ace. He hoped she had some
success with this project, but he was having his
doubts.

She worked nervously around the fax machine all morning and
most of the afternoon. Finally some pictures came through and
she headed directly to Colin’s office with them.
“Look at this one,” she put it before her boss.
“This old longhouse could easily be used as a warehouse.
Notice that while other buildings are collapsed, and one end of
the porch on this one looks like it’s ready to fall, the
main side here and here..” she pointed, “looks
pretty solid.” Where better to have a drug drop off point
than some river far from town in a place no one wants to inspect
too closely?”

He examined the picture carefully. “Maybe,” he
agreed.

“And this,” she pointed to another picture.
“See how close this group of shacks is to the water? Again
they look old but their framework, what you can see in the
picture, looks solid. What do you think’s in there?
Boats? Bush hoppers? These could be hangars for small water
planes.”

Colin rubbed his face and adjusted his glasses. “Yeah,
maybe.”

“Did you notice the river, what you can see in the
pictures? It looks wide enough and deep enough to allow tugs in
there. And if you look on the map you can see where they could
come in on this tributary and bypass the town completely. We
have to check this out further, Colin.”

He scoured the pictures and nodded. “Yeah,
maybe.” Without changing his expression he looked up.
“Go ahead and check your other leads and I’ll handle
this one.”

She didn’t know what he meant by “handle”
exactly. But she knew how he worked. He didn’t want to be
questioned. “Sure.” She left the pictures and went
back out to see what else had been found.

Later Colin left the station and didn’t return. She
checked out the farmhouse the young couple had gone to, but so
far it was turning out to be a farmhouse that had a large party.
They weren’t finding a lot of suspicious connections with
anything else.

She was surprised the next day when the Chief himself called
from main headquarters and informed her that she was to fly to
Alaska to personally check out the site there. It was to be done
as quietly and surreptitiously as possible. She packed her bag.
Colin would give her further instructions. She talked to Colin,
got the necessary gear and headed home.

On the freeway, she lifted the phone and placed a call.
“Hey, Victoria. Would you consider doing me a huge favor?
There’s a dinner at the Space Needle in it for
you.”

“Dinner with you, Gorgeous? Fun. So what are we
talking here?” Victoria asked.

“Well, I know you know where to order the best of
everything in this area. I have to fly to Alaska this afternoon
and won’t get back till late tomorrow or the next day, but
I’d like to send flowers and a pound of some really good
coffee to someone. And I’d like to do it every week. I
don’t want to screw it up because my schedule’s so
erratic. Could you help me out?”

“Ah ha, this sounds interesting,” Vicky replied.
“Who is she? C’mon, pal, what’s the
skinny.” Kendal had called on Victoria in the past when
she needed such courting services. Victoria got her pen and pad
ready to write down a name and address.

“Well, it’s someone I met sort of casually, uh,
sort of.”

“Uh huh. This has got to be a “tell all’
for me to do this for you, you understand.”

Kendal sighed. She knew that was coming. Victoria was a
wonderful help, but she had the curiosity of a newspaper
reporter. She loved the chase but wanted to know every detail.
She always explained that she was a voyeur at heart. Her saving
grace was that she did not share any information she received
with others.

Kendal continued to explain how she and the blonde had met and
her good friend laughed with glee and agreed to help, as she
always did.

-***-

Savannah put down the legal brief and watched the man bring in
the flowers and put them on her desk. Everyone in the office
craned their necks to watch.

“My heavenly days,” Phyliss Ann raised a brow as
she followed the delivery man into Savannah’s office.
“Who’re they from?” She watched the delivery
man leave then shut Savannah’s office door.

Savannah opened the card and gasped, “Oh, my
gosh,” she whispered. She showed the card to her friend.
It was simply signed, “The One.”

“Oh, she’s a DA, too,” Savannah grinned
happily. “I, uh, ran into her later that night and she
said she was there for the convention.”

“Ah ha!” Phyliss Ann’s eyes narrowed and she
pointed an accusatory finger at Savannah. “Now we hear the
full story. You’ve been holding out on us. C’mon,
Savannah, give. I thought you’d been acting very smug.
What happened?” She sat in the chair across the desk from
her friend. Phyliss Ann was an Assistant DA as well, but she
didn’t have as nice an office as Savannah did.
Savannah’s win record kept her where the view, for what
little view any of them got, was one of the best.

“I’m surprised you remember. She had you alone
and she didn’t take advantage of you?”

“No. I’m ashamed to say that I fell
asleep.”

“More like passed out, would be my
guess.”

Savannah blushed. “Yes, maybe. Anyway, she covered me
with a blanket. She was so sweet. I was fully clothed when
Genevieve got back, so don’t raise your brow at me like
that. It was all very proper.”

“Well, that’s good,” then she waggled her
brows,”Or maybe it’s not.”

Savannah’s face continued its reddish hue,
“It’s good, it’s good.”

“If you say so,” Phyliss Ann stared for a minute
at her friend then let her eyes go to the beautiful bouquet.
“Oh, girl, you are in such trouble. Wait till I tell the
others you’ve been holding out on us like that! Shame on
you. So how did you meet up again with “The
One”?”

“I was getting ice and she got off the elevator.
Kismet. Meant to be.”

“Oh, how romantic. And you said nothing to us all the
way back home?”

“I was nursing a very horrendous hangover as I
recall.” Savannah adjusted the flowers in the vase.
“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Her
face became dreamy then she came back to earth. “And look,
real coffee. Not like that sludge they fix around
here.”

“I wonder where she’s from?” Phyliss Ann
mused. “Or what her name is.”

“I’ll call the floral company and see the origin
of the order,” Savannah grinned. “I’m not a DA
for nothing. I can do a little investigating. Once I get a
name, I’ll track her down through every DA office in the
country.”

“Like we have a lot of time around here to track down
girlfriends,” Phyliss Ann observed.

“I know,” Savannah agreed, looking at her stack of
work. They were preparing for important trials with some very
nasty drug dealers and that always got her most diligent, careful
work. “I know.”

Later that day Savannah discovered the order had been placed
in Seattle by a Victoria Spenser. She checked with the Seattle
DA’s office, but they had no Victoria Spenser on staff, nor
was her name in the local phone directory or in Savannah’s
DA Directory. She started checking smaller towns around Seattle
but didn’t get far before work required her full
attention.

-***-

Kendal climbed into the rental skiff, her rain gear, complete
with a large hood, masking most of her body. A light mist
covered everything. She was quite sure the man at the dock
didn’t know if she was a man or a woman. Probably assumed
she was a man. The weather was being skittish, but she had a job
to do, rain or shine. In some ways, rain might be better. She
watched him top off the fuel in the tank and screw on the lid.
Time to go.

She momentarily pressed her hand over her holster finding
comfort in it. She’d have it more easily accessible when
she got closer to the place. She also carried the high-powered
rifle she’d need for protection if the word about bears
feeding in the area proved true. A charging bear was death on
the run. One could never be too cautious about bears.

She nosed the boat from the dock and ran upriver through the
pounding chop of the more open channel till she settled into the
slapping run past the small town. It looked like many other
small Alaskan towns, with a huddle of grey town buildings, some
vaguely Russian in design, others log structures mixed with new
and more modern buildings, all touched by the hand of harsh
weather. They pressed against the grandeur of the deep forest
green of magnificent woods. It was wild and full of life and did
not feel overwhelmed by humankind. Instead there was a feeling
of reclusiveness about it that she found very appealing.

Kendal and her brother had spent many weekends with her
parents, camping, hiking, fishing and photographing in the wild
areas of the northwest while they were growing up. She had a
great love of the out-of-doors. She had even done some hunting
with her father when he was alive and that was where she’d
first found her love of guns. She found her fondness, however,
was far more with the workings of the weapons than the kill. She
had never been too fond of that, preferring to photograph her
wildlife.

The town faded quickly from view and suddenly she felt alone
on this wide river as she pushed on. This would not be the way
the drug runners would come. She’d meet that tributary
further upstream.

Brown eyes carefully took in everything, from what birds were
in the sky to what animals were in the water. Heavy thickets of
green worked their way to the water’s edge on both sides
and the area was teeming with life. There was not a real silence
if you listened carefully enough, though some might think it so.
There was a credible peace, at least to her mind.

“This is the forest primeval,” she thought
remembering her Longfellow, “The murmuring of pines and
hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green...” He
could have been speaking of here. “Ahh, Arcadie,”
she mused, “on the other side of the continent.” But
this was not less beautiful because of it’s
location.

She passed the tributary and watched for company, but no one
else was on the river as far as she could see. It took longer
than she realized to run up to this place. She touched her hand
to her chest. Her inside pocket held the paperwork allowing her
to be there, but she knew if she ran into drug dealers, papers
would be no protection.

With them she had the map folded and dry in its protected
sleeve, but she remembered exactly where she needed to leave her
skiff and work her way back down to the site. She would pass the
area first and move in from the far end of the island, hiking
inland to the abandoned village.

She searched the dilapidated, overgrown area with her eyes as
she passed. It looked every bit like an abandoned Indian site
with a small log cabin, smokeless at the far end. There was no
sign of human life whatsoever and moisture seemed to drip from
everything. She passed on without slowing, hoping to give any
eyes that might be watching the impression that she was not
interested and had other places to go.

She found the small inlet, cut the engine and glided in as far
as possible. She stepped out to wade in then grunted as she
strained to pull her skiff up and onto the short rocky bank. She
tilted the motor and pulled it further till it was hidden behind
a fallen log, high out of high water area among the saplings and
ferny thicket. To be sure, she tied it.

She glanced at her watch, then the clouds to try and determine
the amount of sunlight she had left. Most of the night would be
illuminated and that was good. It would not be easy going
through the thick underbrush, particularly since she wanted to
leave as little trace as possible that she had been there.

She took out her hand-held GPS and checked her position. She
peeled out of her rain gear, stowing it carefully in the boat.
She was dressed in short hiking boots, a black pair of jeans,
waterproof jacket, skin tight black leather gloves and had a
knitted cap to cover her hair. Underneath she wore a flannel
shirt over which she wore her shoulder holster. She left her
jacket unzipped. She wore no makeup or perfume or scented
deodorant. Nothing that might attract bears or be smelled by any
other adversary. Then, with her rifle slung across her back, she
checked the lay of the land before carefully working her way
through the trees and brush back toward the abandoned
village.

It was dusk when she reached the outskirts of the place. She
knew she would have little time in darkness. The first discovery
proved her right. She spotted a simple, battery-operated
security system and moved cautiously to disarm it. You
don’t need one of those in an abandoned village. She
wondered what other alarms or cameras there might be and where
they would be sending their signals. She checked carefully, but
saw nothing more.

As darkness fell, she moved through the brush cover from
building to building, working to cover all footprints as she
went. What she thought might be hangars did turn out to be just
that. Shining her flashlight through what loose boards she could
find, she discovered what looked like rusty, abandoned puddle
jumpers inside. Each shack contained one.

She picked the lock on one of the doors and moved inside the
pitch black building. Edging her way carefully, she managed to
open one of the engine covers and with her flashlight in her
teeth, took pictures of the motor itself. It was in fine
condition although the small plane looked rusty and was covered
in dust.

Replacing the cover, she moved to the rear of the plane and
pulled out a newly designed, tiny GPS tracking device that she
had to attach with great care. It had to be placed where the
normal visual inspection would not find it. Sweat got into her
eyes as she strained to get the job done, but she wiped it away
with her sleeve and worked feverishly again with her flashlight
in her teeth to beat the loss of darkness, ever mindful of the
night noises. Once finished, she labored meticulously to spread
dust over any places she might have touched or walked. She
listened cautiously as she worked, filtering out nature’s
night sounds, straining for any noises made by
humans.

Darkness of night was leaving the sky and dawn’s light
had appeared by the time she clicked the lock back on the
building. She took out her small camera and began snapping
pictures as quickly as she could. The longhouse was empty, but
was a secure building of warehouse size. By the time she got
back to the alarm system, the sun was fully up and only the
clouds were creating murky skies. She nervously reset the alarm,
watching constantly for any signs of anyone either on the river
or on the island. No one was around.

On the long trek back to the skiff she forced herself to pay
particular heed to noises that might indicate the presence of
bears. There were none and she wondered if the cabin’s
inhabitant had spread the tale hoping to keep others away, not
that bears were unusual in Alaska.

The trip through the underbrush seemed shorter somehow,
perhaps because she was rushing to make sure she was not seen.
And she had the same path to follow out as she’d used
coming in, although she had to take care to cover her trail. She
climbed into her rain gear with relief although this day had far
fewer clouds. The journey in the skiff was also faster since she
was not fighting the tide. She barely looked at the group of
weathered buildings as she flew past. From the dock she took the
same small water plane to Anchorage but didn’t sleep until
she let her head fall back on the jet’s headrest that took
her back to Seattle and civilization.

The Captain was waiting for her as she walked back into the
station. They had an appointment with the Chief as soon as she
could make it. Barely giving her time to download her pictures
and print them off, he cleaned all residue of her information off
the computer, took the camera and all pictures and bundled her
off to the Chief’s office.

Normally a politically savvy man who was the first to show off
his open door policy, the Chief’s measures to hide this
meeting were all but draconian this time. They came in the back
and were ushered through back halls. Kendal was amazed, although
she knew how one story by a reporter could wipe out months of
investigative work.

The Chief joined the two for a firsthand report. She spread
the pictures out on his desk. One by one she went over what she
had found. When she finished she remarked,
“Something’s definitely “hinkey”, about
this place, as Dwayne would say.”

“Dwayne?” the Chief asked.

“One of the men on her team,” the Captain answered
quickly. “He uses the term “hinkey’
occasionally.”

“He’s the one that called it “hinkey’
in the first place,”she remarked. “That’s why
I went to such pains to check it out. He has a
gi..”

Colin cleared his throat. “His standard
suggestion,” he told the Chief. Kendal knew from his tone
that she needed to back off this topic. Colin was not
comfortable with it.

The Chief looked from one to the other, not understanding
their interaction. “Did you have to present your papers?
Did anyone see you there?” The head man
asked.

“No one was present at the site. The man who rented me
the boat saw me, but because of the rain gear I was wearing I
think he thought I was a man. Otherwise only the pilot who flew
me in and out saw me.”

“He’s one of ours,” the Chief said to
himself. She wondered at that. How extensive was this
investigation? Why would one of “ours” be in
Alaska?

She explained about the alarm and planting the GPS as she had
been directed. The Chief nodded.

“They probably have no idea they’ve been found
out,” Colin suggested. “They’d clean it out in
a New York second if they knew.”

The Chief stapled his fingers and tapped them against his
lips. “Right.” He looked at Kendal. “Good
work, Lieutenant Deetrie.” He switched his attention to
Colin. “You were right, Colin. She’s the perfect
person to head this task force. Both of you, keep up the good
work. But remember this is a top secret endeavor. We
don’t want to tip our hands.”

“Yes, sir,” they both said at the same time. They
were dismissed.

On the way back to the station Colin looked over at her as she
drove. Regardless of how differently she worked than he did, she
was getting results. He took off his hat and ran a hand over his
balding head. “Okay, Kendal, keep following your leads,
but don’t let anyone outside your team know what’s
happening. That’s imperative. And keep your team
quiet.”

“Yes, Cap,” she smiled.

Kendal was a little surprised when she was called back into
Cap’s office for a serious closed door session again later
that same day. She was hoping it was good news about her civil
service exam. As it turned out, the information she’d
given him and the Chief was already drawing big time attention.
It had been decided that the case would be formally expanded to
include the Organized Crime Unit, the DEA and would be supervised
for prosecution by topnotch Assistant DA’s from the Crime
Investigation and Rackets Bureau. The investigation was to be
held in the strictest confidence and information was to be given
out only on a need-to-know basis. Their findings apparently had
repercussions that included four states and at least three
countries.

Kendal was to be promoted immediately to Operations Lieutenant
and would coordinate all the efforts. The others were to work
under her supervision. There wasn’t to be a pissing
contest over this, Colin had stated. But Kendal knew there most
likely would be unless she could head it off. That was the kind
of thing he counted on her to handle.

It was a feather in her cap, she knew. Operations
Lieutenant, she mused, Captain’s rank can’t be
far behind. Especially if she could just bring this whole
thing to fruition without a lot of intradepartmental friction.
The thing she also knew was that her time was no longer her own.
As of now, fifteen and sixteen hour days would be standard.

-***-

Every week the flowers and coffee arrived on schedule and were
delivered to a beaming blonde in the Tagulla office. Her
schedule had been every bit as involved. Her court time, with
big money providing moves and countermoves against her, was still
proving successful in putting large numbers of the little fish in
jail. It was all leading up to the big trial that everyone knew
she would handle. Every one of these convictions added punch to
the case against the big fish himself, Quilabus.

Savannah still hadn’t located a Victoria Spenser in any
DA’s office, but had precious little time to look. The
flowers, however, were every bit as romantic as anything she had
ever hoped for. Her friends were tickled to see her finally
interested enough in someone to involve her heart, not just her
head.

One busy afternoon on the way to visiting her mother before
another flight out, this one to L.A., Kendal pulled out her cell
phone. She noted that the time on the east coast would be close
to quitting. She placed a call to the DA’s office in
Tagulla and was very pleased to hear them patch her through to
the blonde.

“Savannah Vollier”s office.”

“Hi, beautiful,” Kendal purred.

“Who is this?” Savannah bristled, then paused,
“Wait a minute, is that you,
Victoria?”

“No, it’s not Victoria. I’m The One,
remember? From Edgeway. In the bar.”

The blonde’s voice softened. “Oh, Gods. I
thought your name was Victoria.”

“No. How are you? Did you get the
flowers?”

“I did. Thank you. They’re
beautiful.”

“For a beautiful lady. I’m glad you like them.
I, uh, can’t seem to forget that, uh, kiss we
shared.” She chuckled, “Uh, do you even remember
it?”

Savannah settled back, “Oh, low blow,” she
blushed, “Yes, I do remember it.” She put her hands
before her face, “but I was pretty far gone, I admit. I
hope you don’t think horrible things about
me.”

“No, it wasn’t all that much. I didn’t
really mind. If I’m going to have anyone accost me,
I’d like it to be you.”

Savannah moaned then added quickly, “I thought your name
was Victoria. That’s the name that ordered the
flowers.”

“No, it’s Kendal.” Her phone began to break
up. “Hold on, I’m behind an abutment. Just a
minute. Can you hear me now?”

“You’re in your car?”

“Yes, I’m on my way to visit my mother.”
She sighed.

“In Edgeway?”

“No, Seattle.”

“You visit your mother? That speaks highly of
you.”

“Well, I have to fly out of town again tonight so I
thought I’d better go see her before she decides to move in
with me while I’m gone.”

“She’d do that?”

“Oh yeah. Mom’s pretty assertive. But I’ve
been fending her off. She’s got a very comfortable place
of her own. She doesn’t need to share mine. Anyway, I
didn’t call to talk about my mother. Tell me about
yourself. Did you get home all right? I worried. I was afraid
you’d have a horrible hang over.”

“Oh, I did, believe me. It was terrible. Longest one
day plane trip I’ve ever taken in my
life.”

Kendal chuckled. “I figured it would
be.”

“It was,” Savannah smiled and played with the
phone cord. “Thanks for the coffee, too, by the way.
It’s hard to get a good cup around here. Everyone in the
office appreciates it.”

“I’m glad. I’ll keep sending it
then.”

“You don’t have to,” she said coyly,
“Unless you want to.”

“I do. I’ll tell Victoria to arrange
it.”

“That’s not your girl friend, is it?”
Savannah asked.

“No. Well, she’s a woman and she’s a
friend, but she’s not my girlfriend, not like
that.”

“Do you have one?”

“Girlfriend? No. Do you?”

“No.”

Kendal smiled widely. “I’m glad, cause if
I’m supposed to be The One, there really can’t be
other girlfriends, can there?”

“Oh Gods,” Savannah blushed. “I can’t
believe I told you about The One. And the other things I said to
you in the bar. Oh, it is sooo
embarrassing.”

“Like about your biological clock ticking, you
mean?” Kendal teased. She didn’t think she should
mention the “fathering” part of their conversation
when the blonde had been so drunk.

“Oh, Jeez, can you ever forgive me? I feel like such a
fool. I don’t do that normally, you know. I’ve
never picked up a woman in a bar before in my
life.”

“There’s nothing to forgive. I found
it...charming, and, uh, cute.”

“Oh, Gods.” Crimson covered Savannah’s
face. She cleared her throat, “So your work is taking you
out of town, or is it for pleasure?”

“No, it’s work. But I’m afraid I
can’t discuss it at all. I’m with a task force and
it’s all locked down right now.”

“I know what you mean,” the small blonde said,
“I’m working with a similar situation myself.”
The drug stings she’d worked to prosecute in the past were
always top secret, sometimes even during prosecution. And often
she’d had to work with District Attorneys from other
states. “In fact, I’m surprised I had time to get
into the office today. Court was adjourned mid day. I’m
glad, cause now I’ve had a chance to talk to you. But I
guess we can’t talk about work, either of
us.”

“I guess not. Tell ya what, I won’t take offense
at your job silence if you don’t take offense at
mine.”

“Sounds more than reasonable. So, are you an only
child?”

Kendal chuckled, “You’d think so. My cowardly
brother packed up his wife and three kids and moved clear across
the nation so I’d be left alone here to deal with
Mom.” She laughed. “He didn’t really. He was
offered a good job back east. And Mom’s not all that bad
either, really. She’s just kind of, uh, domineering.
She’d looove to take over my life, if I let
her.”

“What about your father?” Savannah
asked.

“Oh, um,.....he’s been dead for a while,”
Kendal replied. The way she said it made Savannah think that
maybe it was a topic she didn’t like to talk about. They
had that in common. Kendal chuckled, “It gives Mother a
chance to center her full concentration on me, unfortunately.
Sometimes I wish I had a sister to take some of the attention
since my brother’s so far away. What about
you?”

“My father’s been dead a while, too. We have that
in common. But I do have a sister and it’s a good thing,
believe me. She takes a lot of mother’s notice, especially
since she has a couple little ones. They’re darling.
Shelly and Justin.”

“Sounds like you really enjoy your niece and nephew.
How old are they?”

“I do. They’re three and one and a half. I adore
them, although I’m so busy I don’t get to see them
often enough.”

“That happens. Say, tell me, how long did you take
dance lessons as a child?”

“What? How did you know I took dance lessons?”
She twirled the cord around her finger as she leaned back, a
large smile on her face.

“I could tell from the way you moved. You’re so
graceful.”

“I bet you tell that to all the
girls.”

“I don’t, honest. It’s just that you
impressed me with how, I don’t know, how exquisitely you
moved.”

“Well, thank you, ma’am. I took four years of
dance when I was little and piano lessons, too. What about you?
Did you take any special lessons as a child?”

“Oh gods, I took piano, too. It must have been
contagious. But I think they developed a vaccine cause kids
today don’t take piano like they used
to.”

Savannah chuckled. “I think you’re
right.”

Their conversation continued until Kendal found herself
walking around outside her Mother’s home talking. When
they finally hung up, Kendal was every bit as infatuated with the
small blonde as Savannah was with her. Her mother, on the other
hand, was annoyed. There’d been little time left to visit
before Kendal’s flight out of town.

Her prime suspect had shown up in L.A. and Kendal needed to
work with some of the DEA people there to go over who the local
contacts were and how they might tie in. They already had a file
on some of his connections. She couldn’t believe how
spread out this investigation was becoming.

Once back in town, she and Savannah talked quite regularly by
phone and both found themselves romancing the other. At every
opportunity they promoted their budding romance by
telephone.

As meetings of her group proceeded, Kendal was surprised and
delighted to find that one of the DAs on her team had once worked
in the southeast and knew Savannah Vollier. She decided to bide
her time till she could get this woman alone, then she’d
ask more about the blonde. Although it wouldn’t matter
much what the woman told her at this point, she was already well
on her way to surrendering her heart to the blonde Assistant DA
from Tagulla and wouldn’t even be able to say when it had
happened.

“What a sweetheart,” the woman remarked several
days later. It was one afternoon before a big meeting. Kendal
had seen her go in the conference room early and followed. Now
they sat talking.

“Everyone loves her,” the Assistant DA continued,
leaning back and crossing her legs. She was an affable,
aristocratic woman whose intelligent grey-green eyes missed
little. “Why, Savannah’s considered a national
treasure in her office. There’s no doubt that she’s
exacting, but she wins a large number of her cases because of
it. Everyone wants to work with her. She’s warm and
friendly and has a delightful sense of humor but she’s like
a bull terrier with the opposition. Half the time they
don’t know what hit them. She actually makes drug lords
think twice about operating in her area.”

The urbane woman looked Kendal over carefully. Who was this
striking beauty that headed this little soiree? She was new on
the scene and knowledge about her was scant. She’d watched
her cajole this group of hardened, ego-ridden representatives
from organizations known to be all but ruthless in their
territoriality, not the least of which was her own faction. So
far they were all working together and this woman was the
reason. She seemed to find the common threads and played on
them. No small accomplishment for anyone.

Now the seasoned attorney wondered if she’d been looking
for information on this virtual unknown in the wrong places.
She’d ask her partner if she knew anything about someone
that was dating Savannah. Christy kept up with that kind of
thing much more than she did. Although now that they were on the
west coast, Christy’s information wasn’t always all
that up to date. She let her eyes run to the impressive figure
before her. Normally Kendal had worn trousers with a fashionable
blouse and jacket to their meetings. But today the tall beauty
was wearing a pullover sweater that was extremely
flattering.

“You’re not wearing a gun,” the attorney
remarked with surprise. All the other police personnel were
wearing guns. It always struck the attorney as such a macho
thing. Even if they knew they were going to spend five
consecutive days in meetings, the police faction, the FBI, and
the DEA all wore their guns if they were allowed.

A warm smile crossed Kendal’s face. “I always
wear a gun.” She watched the surprised look on the
woman’s face as she once again ran her eyes over
Kendal’s body. The Lieutenant lifted the edge of her
pullover to reveal a belt holster molded to her
hip.

“I thought most of you plain clothes folks wore shoulder
holsters.”

“Normally I do. But I didn’t want to wear a
jacket today.” Brown eyes sparkled and the attorney found
herself appreciating how captivating this woman’s long
lashes and deep, dark eyes were. Kendal put her hand on her gun,
“These’ll all but pull your trousers down, too, if
you don’t take care. Thus the sturdy belt.” The
brunette pulled the sweater back in place and quirked a grin that
made the woman laugh out loud.

“You could wear it in the small of your back and go
around like the joke about workmen always bent over with their
behinds half exposed.

“Good way to cripple yourself,” Kendal remarked
seriously. “Fall on one of those and you run the risk of
doing serious damage to your spine. Not to mention how easy they
are to overpower. No, I never wear a gun there, or cuffs
either.”

The brunette could feel the attorney’s astute eyes
evaluating her and knew the unasked question, but she
didn’t want to out herself in this situation. This case
she headed was extremely important to her and she wanted to keep
everything on as much of a business level as
possible.

“So where do you know Savannah from?” the woman
casually asked.

“Oh, uh, we just met briefly during the DA’s
conference here in town.”

“Funny. I don’t remember seeing you at the
convention.” Kendal did not reply. She passed it off in
favor of a comment on what a large convention it had been before
the door opened and some other team members stood talking, ready
to filter in.

The woman lowered her voice. “Savannah’s always
had what she calls “The One” that’s she’s
been waiting for,” the gal remarked quietly as she gathered
her things. “For years everyone thought it was just a
figment of her imagination, part of her humor. But word has it,
“The One” was really pointed out to some of her
friends on this trip.” She smirked and raised a brow,
“If I’m not mistaken,” the woman’s eyes
twinkled, “her choice was someone right here in the Seattle
area. Small world, huh?” She waited for Kendal to make a
comment, but the tall brunette didn’t.

The DA stood. “Nice working with you, Lieutenant, I
wanted to tell you that earlier. Or is it still
Lieutenant?”

“Actually, the title they’ve given me is
Operational Lieutenant,” Kendal smiled.

“Yes, nice getting a chance to chat with you,”
Kendal replied, looking up with her standard wide smile. She
shook hands briefly before the woman moved down to the far end of
the large conference table with others from her
group.

Well, that didn’t sound like the description of an
Ice Bitch to me, Kendal thought as she watched the woman move
away. Unless you’re the opposition. No, that sounds
more like the Savannah I met and kissed and talk to every chance
I get. She sighed. She couldn’t avoid it. It was too
late now. She was deeply smitten with the chipper little
blonde. And every time they spoke on the phone, she surrendered
more of her heart.

By now they found themselves speaking by phone at least three
times a week, regardless of how busy their schedules were.
Everything was still hush-hush regarding Kendal’s task
force but the brunette did feel it was all right to mention a
name or two of the DA’s she’d been working with. She
thought Savannah might recognize them and feel a little closer to
her.

Savannah was dealing with her own convoluted cases. Their
trips to court had begun pulling convictions that seemed to be
moving up the food chain. And it was drawing unwelcome attention
from the Colombian drug lord further up. Security was tight and
everyone was cautioned not to speak about the cases with anyone.
So the two avoided the topic of work all together.

For the most part Kendal talked about her mother or something
she’d seen or eaten or heard about that Savannah might
enjoy. And Savannah talked about her sister’s family and
her own mother. But mostly they flirted with one another and had
begun to make references to living together.

Though she’d long since given up any hope of playing
softball on the weekends, Kendal did continue to work with Dwayne
whenever possible. He had stopped his overt nonsense, but he
was often petulant and cross. She couldn’t help feeling
sorry that the man was probably not going to rise very far in the
system because of his attitude. She found his particular gift to
be remarkable although no one else, including Dwayne himself,
seemed to be very impressed with it.

Kendal also found that she was in town less and less often.
But when she was, she made a point of sitting down with Dwayne
going over any current information. The other groups had all
added some input, although Kendal’s was still the main
coordinating arm. The two of them went over printouts, notes,
suspect descriptions, business descriptions, tanker schedules and
orders, airplane flight plans and any foreign addresses that
appeared. Every time Dwayne questioned something, or said he
thought it seemed “hinkey”, she highlighted the area
in one color fluorescent pen. Her own questions were highlighted
in a different color. Nothing was left
unscrutinized.

One thing that Kendal did, and Dwayne began to notice it, was
that she was very up front about mentioning Dwayne’s
contribution to anything that was found. She was always
respectful of his opinions and showed herself more than willing
to give him credit when it was due. That knowledge seemed to
ease some of his surliness.

Because of their devout attention to detail, they caught a
break and some big pieces began to fall together. But now the
team had to expand to bring in representatives of the Armed
Services as well. A connection was found with one of the
military bases, and this new faction had a representative that
was a real trial to get along with. It pushed Kendal’s
talents to the edge.

Then before they knew it, Kendal and Dwayne found themselves
in Alaska working under cover with local authorities there. They
only flew back to town for meetings. Dwayne was surprised to
find that Kendal, out of all the other choices, had selected him
to work with her. He began to comprehend that if he watched
himself, he had a real chance for advancement. She wasn’t
just using his work to promote herself. She was pointing out his
contributions every chance she got. He increased his
efforts.

The more they delved, the more they found. A large drug
running outfit with known Oriental connections, sending drugs to
Canada and the US, hitherto totally unknown, was being
systematically exposed before their eyes. From their
investigation the Canadians were also brought into the
picture.

Dwayne stayed in Alaska and worked and Kendal found herself
flying to Hong Kong as other clues developed. The holidays were
almost upon them the afternoon that she made her way to the
airport from downtown Hong Kong to head back for home. Suddenly
Kendal saw a clock in one of the store windows. It was darling.
She stopped her cab and hurried in to have the clerk show her how
it worked. It was the shape of a regular old fashioned alarm
clock except that it had tiny mice on the top with the alarm bell
between them. When the alarm was rung, the mice would spin and
hit the bell with tiny mallets.

“There it is, darlin’,” Kendal grinned to
herself, “there’s your biological clock.” She
instantly bought the item, had it gift wrapped and sent to
Savannah for Christmas.

The DA’s office in Tagulla was finishing up their trials
of the lessor players in the drug ring with a spectacular
conviction rate. And Savannah had played a large part. But now
they prepared to bring charges against the head drug lord,
himself. To that end, the DA’s office had received
threats of a very serious nature. So the box containing the
clock was xrayed and carefully opened by the local Bomb Squad
before the clock was finally unearthed from its packaging. That
was how it was delivered to Savannah.

Everyone in the office came to her desk to watch. She wound
the clock and set the time and everyone was delighted when the
alarm time hit and the mice spun, striking the bell with their
small mallets.

“My biological clock,” Savannah grinned. Everyone
laughed.

“Oh, darlin’,” Phyliss Ann said aside to
her, “this woman is too much. You’d better snatch
her up quick before anyone else gets their claws into her. Cause
she’s lookin’ mighty fine to me, I can tell you. And
I won’t be polite about pushing you
aside.”

“Yes,” Savannah agreed. “She is The One.
There’s no question at all in my mind.” A soft smile
broke out as she thought of the gift she had sent Kendal, a gold
locket engraved with the words “The One” on the
outside and a small pictures of herself along with a small copy
of Kendal’s picture that Kendal had sent her placed inside.

Over the following months, their phone romance developed into
a full blown long distance love affair. Some of their late night
calls were so steamy, they bordered precipitously on the edge of
phone sex, although neither would have admitted it. Kendal
remarked that as soon as the current case she was working on gave
her a chance to breathe, she’d be on a plane to visit, and
they’d finally get a chance to be together like they both
wanted. Savannah could hardly wait.

Finally, more than seven months after the initial task force
was formed, the most important meeting of all was called. It
was time to reel in the suspects and make arrests. Kendal gave
instructions for who was to do what. Each group was informed of
their part. The DA faction explained in detail how every arrest
was to be made exactly according to the law. Everything was
coordinated almost down to the last minute. Kendal left to go
with her own group to make the Washington state arrests.

As it happened, it took more than two weeks to make all the
collars. But by the time those weeks were ended, a very large
international drug organization had been brought to a halt. And
Kendal was in line to become one of the youngest Captains in her
department’s history. However, for the time being she
still held the rank of Lieutenant, while Dwayne was advanced to
Sergeant.

Prosecution meant they would all be busy in court once the
trial circuit began. Kendal took this opportunity to fly to
Tagulla to see Savannah before everything got crazy again. She
didn’t forewarn the small blonde or tell her of the
arrests. She simply got on the first plane headed southeast and
spent most of the day traveling across the
country.

She stepped out of the final plane into the warmer, heavier
east coast air. Her heartbeat increased at the thought of seeing
the small blonde again. The cab took her downtown and she gazed
up at the stately building. Savannah and her whole future was up
there. The world had never seemed more perfect. She smiled with
excitement, her heart pounding wildly, and headed for the doors
to her future.

Getting to the floor, Kendal made her way past the uniformed
officer standing guard. She recognized some of the women’s
faces from the convention in Edgeway. The widest smile possible
sat on her face as she asked for Savannah. They directed her to
a shut door. The secretary outside asked for her name to
announce her arrival. “Tell her Lieutenant Deetrie is here
to see her, please.” Kendal waited impatiently while the
woman entered the room.

“A Lieutenant Deetrie is here to see you,
Savannah,” the woman said.

The blonde head looked up from her work and a frown came to
her face. “Lieutenant Deetrie?” she asked.
“Do I have an appointment?”

“Hey, Savannah,” Kendal said as she came in behind
the woman from the desk. The secretary left. “I said
I’d make it here to see you, darlin’. And here I
am.” She opened her arms to grab the small blonde should
she want to run into them.

“Kendal?” Savannah brightened for a moment then
her face fell and she paled. Dread flashed briefly across her
features. She stayed at her desk and Kendal dropped her arms.
“What did you mean by Lieutenant?”

“I’m a Lieutenant,” Kendal replied.
“In the police department. From Edgeway. Honey, you know
all this.”

“No! No, I don’t. You said you were a DA.
That’s what you said at the hotel. You were there for the
convention. That’s what you said. I was drunk, but I
remember that distinctly.”

Kendal stood dazed. This wasn’t the reception
she’d been expecting. What difference did it make?
“Yes, I was undercover there at the time. Why?
What’s the problem?”

Savannah’s heart pounded so hard in her ears she was
afraid Kendal would hear it. “You lied to me,” she
whispered with disbelief. Accusatory blue eyes lifted to
Kendal. The small woman rose and stepped back from her desk.
Her jaw clenched. Her complexion turned nearly colorless.
“Why? Why lie to me?”

Kendal watched the face of the woman she loved and a sudden
fear struck her heart. What was happening? What did Savannah
believe? “Well....I don’t think I did. I mean, I
was undercover. I couldn’t tell you the full truth then.
But I didn’t exactly say I was a DA. And we’ve
spoken a hundred times since then.” She wondered if it was
all a joke. “C’mon, you know I’m a police
officer.”

A sense of panic overtook the small blonde. Her voice shook,
“But you talked about the other DA’s. Why did you
try to make me think you were a DA? Why did you do that?”
With difficulty she suddenly gained control of herself and her
face hardened. Years of dealing with opposition in the courtroom
clicked in and her posture tightened. Her voice grew cold.
“I can’t tolerate lying, Kendal.”

Kendal felt a shiver run down her back. Lying? What
lying? She took a step forward but Savannah put a hand up to
stop her from coming any closer. Kendal was confounded. She
searched the small blonde’s face and was horrified to see
the warm, friendly woman she loved slipping away, “I
don’t understand, Sweetheart. I was undercover. It was my
job. I didn’t lie. What is this all about, honey? Help
me here.” Brown eyes beseeched the woman who was rapidly
closing off her emotions.

Savannah sighed heavily then closed her eyes to Kendal’s
appeal, “I can’t do this, Kendal. I can’t deal
with this. I need you to leave.”

“Savannah, baby. I’ve been in a plane all day
waiting anxiously to get here to you. I love you more than I can
possibly say. Please, honey.”

Cold blue eyes opened, “No, I don’t care. I want
you to leave. I don’t have anything to say to you. I want
you to go.”

“You can’t mean that. You
can’t..”

“I’ve never meant anything more in my
life.” Cold, clear words.

Kendal blinked and took a step back. “Savannah?”
her voice broke as she reached a hand out. “Honey? What
happened to you?”

“Nothing happened to me,” Savannah replied. Her
blue eyes were arctic and her stance had not changed. It was as
though she were a statue. But her eyes did not meet
Kendal’s. “Go! Find someone else to tell your lies
to.”

“What lies?” Kendal’s words were soft.
“Baby, I love you. Sweetheart? We talked about being
together. We talked about...us.” Her hand unconsciously
went to the locket she wore around her neck.

“There is no us. Go away, Kendal. Leave. You’re
not welcome here.”

The tall brunette stood blinking her eyes. Her hand engulfed
her locket. Her voice was soft, “You said you loved
me,” she plead. She was begging now, she knew. And she
didn’t care.

Blue eyes looked down, “I did, I thought I did, but you
deceived me.” They came back up to bore into confused
brown, supplicating eyes. “No, I can’t have that.
No, please go. Go right now. Don’t come
back.”

This has to be a mistake. What have I done that was so
wrong? “Well, I love you. No one could love you like
I do. No one. Love is a miracle. Don’t throw it away,
Savannah. Please.” Kendal looked hard at the woman she
dreamed would share her life. She felt like she was holding out
her heart in her hands, defenselessly offering it to this woman
and cold terror began to settle around her. Savannah was not
going to accept it.

Savannah could see the terrible pain in Kendal’s eyes.
How could this nightmare be happening? Why had Kendal lied? She
held her breath.

“I.. I don’t think I can survive without
you.” Surprise tears filled the tall beauty’s brown
eyes. Crying was not something she ever did easily, but tears
threatened now.

Savannah bit her lip and dug her nails into her fisted hands.
“Yes, you can. You’ll have to. Go.”

Kendal wiped at her tears then saw the clock on
Savannah’s desk, “Our clock... our
future...”

“Take it.” Savannah swept up the item and held it
out. “Go ahead, take it and go.”

Kendal’s words were whisper soft, “No, love, it
was for you.”

Savannah coldly dropped it into the garbage can beside her
desk with a clunk, her blue eyes frigid. Kendal took a step
backward her eyes filled with agony. A stab through the heart
would have been less painful. Her mouth opened slightly but she
said nothing.

“It’s simple.” Blue eyes drilled directly
into Kendal’s soul and as though there were a premonition
spoken between them, they both knew this would hurt. “I
don’t want you.”

A tear streaked down Kendal’s cheek. Savannah
didn’t want her. Kendal’s body felt as though
she’d taken a hit from a ten ton truck. She felt a buzzing
in her ears and a horrible sinking in her stomach. She
couldn’t breathe. She stepped backwards and reached for
the door. The room seemed to spin. She lifted baleful eyes
toward the statue of a woman at the window, the woman she had
been so sure she would spend her future loving. She had not
moved. Savanna didn’t want her. Kendal turned the knob
and was gone.

She was vaguely aware that there were people in the outer
office as she fled past. One called her name. It wasn’t
Savannah. She kept going. She had to get out! She had to catch
her breath. She had to figure this out.

She didn’t know how she got out of the building or how
long she’d been walking. Darkness had fallen over the city
but it had swallowed her hours before. She spotted a bar and
moved inside. Wild-eyed, she ordered a drink, followed by many
more, praying for oblivion or understanding, but finding
neither.

Finally she staggered out and caught a cab to the airport.
They weren’t going to let her on a flight until she showed
her badge. She slept all the way to St. Louis. Then she had
more drinks before catching her connecting flight.

Again it was only her badge that allowed them to let her on.
She was not the least unruly or even her badge would not have
sufficed. She stared in space until blessed sleep took over. In
a nanosecond it seemed like all her dreams had been crushed into
nothingness and she didn’t have a clue why.

Once home, Kendal decided she must have missed something in
what Savannah was saying. There must be some mistake. There had
to be more to this than what Savannah thought was a lie. She
tried calling but her private number had been changed. She
called at the office, but they had been directed not to put her
calls through. She wrote letters, deep heartfelt letters trying
to explain how she would never lie to Savannah on purpose. All
were returned unopened. The flowers she tried to send were not
accepted and the coffee was sent back.

Eventually her need to be in the courtroom to give testimony
dragged her back into her job. She gave up and quit trying to
reach Savannah. It was over, but she knew her life would never
be the same. Savannah owned her heart and Savannah didn’t
want her.

She poured herself into her work, getting her Captain’s
promotion, but it meant little to her. Being in her empty
apartment was agony, so she spent most of her time on the job.
Everyone noticed her work fervor, but no one spoke of it. Job
stress was a big factor for most police personnel. This was
apparently hers.

When she wasn’t at work, she was at a tavern, something
she had never really done before. One night as she sat working
on her fourth whiskey praying she could sleep when she got home,
she felt someone slide onto the bar stool beside her. She looked
over to see Dwayne.

“Dwayne, old man, or should I say
“Sarge’?” she asked, “what are you
doin’ here? This isn’t one of the bars the boys
use.” It was hard to tell she was drunk. She was not the
type that slurred her words easily.

“No, Captain,” he replied, “I followed you
here.”

“Why?” she asked in amazement.

“Well, fuck, cause you shouldn’t be here
doin’ this,” he said. “Cause whatever it is
that freakin’ sent you over the edge won’t be held in
control like this. Believe me, I know all about that
fucker.”

“That so?” she asked and took another sip of her
drink.

“Damn right. I’d like you to let me return a
favor.” This was said rather softly for him.

“I don’t understand.” Her eyes drifted out
the window to the dark streets, but she didn’t really see
anything there.

“I ain’t perfect by a helluva long shot. Shit,
everyone knows that,” he started, “but you had me
quit some behavior that was pretty damn self-destructive. I want
you to let me return the favor.”

She glanced back at him, “How?”

“I’m gonna take you home. And every time I see
you head to a tavern by yourself, I’m gonna come in and get
you and take you home. Damn it, Captain, you’ll thank me
for it later. This ain’t you.”

“I don’t think I know who I am any more,
Dwayne,” she said softly.

“Shit, I know that feeling,” he answered.
“But it ain’t this.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No. So listen up, you had faith enough in me when I
needed it. I wanna have you let me have faith enough in you.
Deal?” He stuck out his hand and she looked at it.
“Ya gotta shake my fuckin’ hand, Cap. Or was
everything you did for me just shit to get yourself your
Captain’s gold bars?”

She looked in his eyes for a long few minutes. Slowly she
reached her hand out. They shook hands. He threw some money on
the bar and she walked with him out to his car. He got her to
her apartment and covered her with a blanket when she fell onto
the couch. “This ain’t you, Cap, believe me.”
He turned and walked out.

Kendal sat up after he left and stared out the window. He was
right. This wasn’t her. She needed to find another way to
stem the constant melancholy and ache inside her.

She didn’t mention it the next day, but neither did she
continue the drinking. She still worked to excess, but she
didn’t visit the taverns again. Instead she began to carry
a small bag of workout clothes everywhere she went. In every
free moment, she found a facility and worked out beyond what any
normal person would do until her long, lean body was equally hard
muscled.

She went to dinner with Victoria, but the tall blonde informed
her that she was being a first class wet blanket. She tried to
smile, but it was almost impossible. “You’ll get
past this, baby,” her friend assured her with a hug.
“You will.” She nodded in return, but she had grave
doubts.

On the job she worked with the DAs to get convictions on all
the arrests and found herself flying to a number of places to
make sure things went as they should. She worked to exhaustion
in each place. She was polite with all those she worked with,
but the fun loving spirit she had displayed before was gone. She
was now deadly serious about everything.

She tried to avoid the DA that knew Savannah, but the woman
always seemed to stop her to ask how she was doing. Her response
never differed, “Fine, thank you. How about you?”
The woman would examine her seriously and concern would settle in
her eyes. She’d make a non-committed reply and move
on.

It was obvious to everyone that the light had gone out of
Kendal’s eyes.

Finally she found herself back at her desk with a reprieve of
sorts from her busy traveling and testifying schedule. Others
were testifying but there was a pause in her own involvement.
She worked instead on an Emergency Preparedness Report, lining up
information that would help them all evaluate where their
community was and consequently what changes might need to be
made. In the five months since her fateful trip to visit
Savannah, she had put in more hours in the office than any other
city employee in any position.

“Captain Deetrie,” her serious voice answered
immediately when her phone rang. They’d said the call was
from Tagulla.

“You’re one very hard woman to get ahold
of,” Phyliss Ann said into the phone. “I can’t
tell you how long I’ve been trying.”

“Oh, Phyliss Ann,” the tall woman replied.
“They said the call was from Tagulla. I’d
hoped....”

“I know, Kendal,” she said. “Savannah is
the reason I’m calling.”

“What’s happened? Is she all right? Has she been
hurt?”

“No, no, hold on. She’s, uh, she’s not all
right, but there’s been no accident.”

“What is it, then? What’s
happened?”

“Well, the problem is that she’s spiraled down to
such a low level that I’m seriously worried about her. She
is severely depressed.”

“Oh. Uh, well, I know she doesn’t want to see
me. She made that very clear. She threw me out, Phyliss Ann.
She said I lied to her. I don’t think I did. I was
working undercover. So I don’t know what I can do to
help.”

“I know, I know. But this isn’t what she really
wants. This woman is deeply in love with you. She just
doesn’t ever date cops. She probably told
you.”

“No, she didn’t. Why? What’s wrong with
cops?”

“She didn’t explain?”

“No. She just threw me out.”

“Kendal, Savannah never dates cops. Never. Her sister
didn’t either. It has to do with her family’s theory
that, uh, “trouble’ comes to them in threes. See,
her father and her brother were cops and they were both
killed.”

“Wait a minute! Hold on! You mean to tell me that all
this agony we’re going through has to do with some damn
superstition?” Kendal couldn’t believe it. Savannah
didn’t seem the type.

“Well, hold on there, Sugar. Don’t come down too
hard on her. It’s got her terrified. I do know that for a
fact. And, to tell you the truth, her family does have a bit of
a reputation here in Georgia.”

“For what?”

“For, uh, “trouble’ coming to them in
threes. I know, I know, it sounds like crackpot nonsense.
I’ve never believed in that kind of thing myself. It
doesn’t happen in my family or most anyone else’s
that I know of. But when I began to look at their family history
a little closer, it was pretty eerie. I mean, it’s like a
family curse, sort of. It’s enough to make a believer out
of you.”

“You’ve got to be kidding
me.”

“No and I don’t want you thinking her
family’s into voodoo or anything like that, either. They
aren’t. In fact, when she was growing up Savannah
didn’t give it all that much credence either, as I
remember. I think she thought it was just a superstition, like
you said. But, her Grandmama, her Daddy’s momma, she was
kind of a strange old woman. She always used to warn that death
came to their family in threes, and their history seemed to bear
that out. As you can imagine, Grandmama created all kinds of
problems. The story is that when Savannah’s parents
married, her Grandmama’s ravings did not go over so well
with the new bride. Her Momma told her Daddy that the old lady
was never to talk like that around her
children.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, the old lady warned her that it wouldn’t
make any difference if she talked about it or not. She’d
see soon enough. Their family was afflicted with it. Her Momma
pooh poohed it all and kept herself and her husband pretty much
away from the old gal. They went about their own business and
tried to start a family. Grandmama said, “Now you’ll
see. Beware the rule of three” and that’s when the
miscarriages started.”

“Three, I suppose,” Kendal said.

“That’s right. Understand, this was after their
family already had a pretty unusual history of three deaths
either occurring at a time or occurring in some category. It got
to her Momma a little, I can tell ya, those miscarriages did.
Then when Savannah’s father joined the police force, her
grandmother went bonkers. She ranted and raved that he must
change jobs immediately. This field would bring the family
untold pain, she told them, terrible trouble. “Mark my
words. Beware the threes,” she’d said. “Our
family can’t escape it.”“

“Sounds like some silly horror
movie.”

“Doesn’t it? Well, her Grandmama died shortly
afterward but no one else in the family had died. So everyone
said, “see, there’s no three this time. Grandmama
was wrong this time and she was wrong about the police
job.” Everyone else in their family was in perfect health
so for about a week they all relaxed.”

“And?”

“Savannah’s mother’s mother, the other
Grandma, died shortly afterward of a sudden heart attack while
driving her car. Savannah’s aunt was in the car at the
time. They were both killed outright. It’s just plain
eerie, Kendal. Her family’s filled with that kind of
thing. I mean it. It’s not just one or two instances,
it’s there a lot. Like I say, it even gives me
pause.”

“I see.”

“So when her father and brother were both killed as
policemen after her grandmother’s warning, her mother kind
of went over the edge. She’d lost her beloved husband and
son. She made both girls swear they would not go into police
work and they would not marry a policeman. She said they must
not let anyone who’s a policeman in their family, not if
they loved them. It would be condemning them to
death.”

“That’s a little out there, Phyliss
Ann...”

“It scared Savannah, Kendal. You can’t know how
hard that time was for her. She barely gets along with her
mother, but she adored both her father and her brother. And then
they were dead. So when she met you, she was so happy falling in
love cause she thought you were a DA. She gave her heart so
willingly. Then when she discovered you were a policeman, it
threw her for a loop.”

“Uh, yes. I guess I see where it could
have.”

“It did. Hey, I remember her mother tearing into her
sister when she was going to go out with a friend of her
brother’s. It was a simple date. This was shortly after
their deaths. The boy was a policeman. I remember her mother
almost getting hysterical and demanding to know if her sister
wanted that boy dead, cause that was what was going to happen.
She kept saying that besides their family history, her
grandmother had preordained it. Both the girls got pretty
frightened by it all. It was after that that she made them
promise. Her sister ended up marrying a
plumber.”

“And that’s why Savannah was so upset. Not
because I’d lied, but because I was with the police
force?”

“Yes, she loves you deeply but she felt she had to drive
you away.”

“She did that well enough,” Kendal answered
bitterly.

“I need to tell you how I found her after you left,
Kendal. She was huddled on the floor behind her desk hugging
your clock to her chest and sobbing. This has not been easy for
her at all, Kendal.”

“Oh, Phyllis Ann, why didn’t you tell me
earlier?”

“She made me promise. But I can’t keep standing
by watching her disintegrate. I’m really worried.
She’s not eating, she’s not sleeping, she’s
just going through the motions around here since that day.
She’s rail thin and has dark circles under her eyes that
don’t stop. And I know she’s keeping track of
you.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s calling one of the members of your team
rather regularly to make sure you’re all right. She never
asks this person about your project, if that’s what
you’re wondering. She’s not spying. She just asks
about you. She cares, Kendal. A lot. She’s not
recovering from this. I’m very worried. I don’t know
what else to do.”

Kendal considered. There had to be a way. Now that she knew
the problem, she could work on a way to resolve this. “I
don’t think she’d let me in her office, if I came
there,” she thought out loud.

“Please, Kendal. You’ve got to help. I
don’t know where else to turn. Please. Listen, I’ll
get you in her office, if you can talk some sense into her at
all. Will you try? Please? This is very
serious.”

“I...I love her, Phyliss Ann. I’ve never felt
this way about anyone before. I’d do most anything. If
you think you can get me in, I’ll be there in a
heartbeat.”

“I can. When can you be here? She’s supposed to
take a big drug case to court starting next week. Can you
possibly come before that?”

“Let me check my schedule. Uh, yeah, I can maybe hop a
military transport down there. Wait. Hold it a second.”
The sound of rustling could be heard. “Okay, I can fly
down during the night Thursday and be at your office Friday. I
need to check with some people there in town on my case anyway.
I can do that Friday morning and meet you Friday afternoon.
How’s that?”

“Wonderful!”

“You’ll have to get me in. It’s my guess
she’ll try to have the police protection filter me out if
she has any idea I’ll be there. Are you still under
protection from that threat?”

“Yes, but I’ll get you in. Try and meet me
downstairs just inside the building by around four thirty.
I’ll take you right up and in.”

“Okay. See you then.” Kendal hung up and
worried. How in the world could she get Savannah to listen to
her? Nothing had worked the last time. And what would she say
if she did listen? Fear was a huge factor to overcome. She
turned her attention to the window. Maybe she needed to rethink
her life and her goals. Everything had seemed so full and
promising with the prospect of Savannah in it. Then her world
came crashing down. And now, every day seemed painfully dismal
and without hope. But if she could get Savannah to talk, to take
her back...

She sighed heavily. Well, she had a lot of work to get done
if she was hoping to leave town Thursday night.

-***-

Kendal looked up the length of the building to the floor that
housed the DA’s office. Savannah was there, her Savannah.
Gods, she prayed this worked. Phyllis Ann stepped out of the
building entrance and waved. Kendal hurried over and the smaller
woman led her back inside and into the elevator.

The halls were busy when they emerged and Kendal could see the
guard stationed outside the DA’s office. “You sure
she’ll let me in?” she quietly asked Phyllis
Ann.

“She doesn’t know you’re coming. I’ll
get you in. Please talk to her. You’ll see. She’s
just down to skin and bones practically.”

“I’ll try, Phylliss Ann. Believe me, I want this
more than you do.”

“Do your best, Lieutenant,” she whispered.

“It’s Captain now,” Kendal whispered back.
They moved through the doors, the officer checking her
identification. Phyllis Ann instantly announced Kendal was with
her. The tall brunette could see Savannah’s door was
shut.

Phyllis Ann went ahead and she followed. Phyllis knocked then
opened the door and stepped inside.

“Phyllis Ann? What is it?” Savannah was sitting
at her desk and looked up.

“It’s time you talked this out, Savannah,”
she said. “You can’t go on like this.” Then
she turned and left, leaving Kendal inside the door. The door
was shut quietly behind her.

Savannah shot up from her chair, “Kendal, what are you
doing here?” She did have bags under her eyes and looked
very tired. Her clothes hung on her and it was obvious that she
had lost considerable weight.

“Hey, Savannah,” Kendal said softly and moved
forward.

“Why are you here? What are you doing in my
office?” She took a step back from her
desk.

“We have to talk.”

“No, there’s nothing to say. I want you to
go.” There were no flowers in the office and the cup on
her desk had half a cup of cold sludge in it.

“No darlin’. We’re going to talk this
out.”

“You’ve wasted your time, Lieutenant,” she
said, and Kendal could see the small blonde’s jaw tighten
around the words.

“No, you weren’t wrong.” Kendal continued
moving closer to the desk. “C’mon, we can work this
out. Whatever the problem, we can find a solution.” She
started to go around the desk.

“No, don’t touch me,” Savannah stated, her
eyes flashing. She backed up to the window and crossed her
arms. “I don’t want you to touch me. You have no
rights to me...officer. Don’t try to express
any.”

For a minute Kendal saw the Ice Bitch take control as blue
eyes hardened. But she knew Savannah’s motivation and
pressed forward till she stood before the small woman. “I
love you, Savannah Vollier, with all my heart. I swear to you
with everything I am, we can work this out.”

Savannah looked at the floor. “I’d like you to
leave,” she whispered. “Go back home and leave me
alone.” Her words were cold and uncaring, but her
trembling hands betrayed her. “I have work to do. I
don’t have time for this.” She turned her back on
Kendal and gazed out the window.

Soft words floated over her shoulder, “My dreams are
filled with you, Savannah. For all these months I’ve been
the willing prisoner of those dreams. But dreams aren’t
enough. I’m not going back right now. I
can’t.”

Tears began streaming down Savannah’s cheeks.
“Please go, Kendal. Please.” Sobs began to wrack
her body. Long arms snaked around the small blonde and pulled
her back into the tall woman’s embrace.

“Am I not The One?” Kendal asked, burying her face
in the blonde’s hair. “You know I am. And I know
you’ve been checking up on me through R. J. to make sure
I’m all right.”

Savannah brought her head up in surprise then sunk her head
forward in defeat. “I’m not strong enough for
this,” she cried. “Please forgive me.” She
turned and buried her face in Kendal’s shirt. “Yes,
oh Gods, yes. You are, but...”

“I, I..” Savannah stammered as her face pressed
further into the brunette’s shirt. Her arms moved under
Kendal’s jacket and she gripped the tall woman as more
tears fell. “Don’t leave me. I can’t do
this,” she whispered, then she tried to pull back.
“You touched me,” she said, her large blue eyes
filled with tears. “I didn’t want to give
in.”

Kendal held her firmly. “I know. Yes, I did touch
you. And I’m not letting you go until we’ve worked
this out.”

Normally Savannah’s temper would have sprung into place
and she would have fought, but all the fight was gone from the
small blonde. She slowly sunk deeper into Kendal’s chest,
her crying filled the room. “Forgive me, please,”
she sobbed. “Don’t let her
die.”

“Talk to me, darlin,” Kendal waited patiently, her
arms tight around the smaller woman. “Help me see the
problem.” Regardless of what Phyliss Ann had told her,
Savannah could have a totally different take on their problem.
They had to work it out together. Kendal held the small woman
and waited.

Slowly the sobbing eased and Savannah brought one hand up to
wipe at her tears. “Things come in threes in my
family,” she cried. “Bad things.” She
burrowed her face into Kendal’s white shirt. Her words
were muffled, “I promised my mother....and, and myself that
I’d never either be a police officer or date one.”
She unburied her face, dug out a tissue from her skirt pocket,
wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “I didn’t ever
mean to fall in love with one. Then you came along. Oh, honey,
I’ve gotten mascara on your shirt.”

“It’s okay,” Kendal soothed. “Tell me
about the promise. What’s wrong with police
officers?” She held her arms loosely about the woman now,
not letting her retreat.

“My father was an officer,” large pain-filled blue
eyes lifted to meet Kendal’s tender dark eyes. “And
my brother.” Streaks of mascara were on the blonde’s
face and Kendal gently ran her finger across one line. The small
blonde got a far away look and the hardness she showed the world
seemed to fight to work its way back into place.

“Please, baby. Keep talking to me, Savannah. We both
need to understand.” Kendal sensed that this was the place
where the small blonde’s armor took over and her emotions
were locked away behind harsh words and uncaring actions. Kendal
whispered, “I love you, Savannah. With all I am. Help me
here.”

Savannah took a deep breath and fought off the protective
shield that had served her sanity so well all these years. Her
voice became a whisper. “They were both killed, both Daddy
and Bud...in the line of duty.” She looked so vulnerable
that Kendal wanted to cry. Obviously Savannah still missed her
father and her brother intensely.

“Oh,” Kendal knew that Savannah would block any
attempt at sympathy or even empathy. She’d been doing it
for years. She did not want that or she couldn’t handle
it. Either way. “Were they both patrolmen?” Kendal
asked instead without moving her arms from around the small
blonde.

The words bubbled up from where Savannah’s cheek rested
on her chest, “My father became a Sergeant but he worked on
the street. He never wanted to do anything else. He loved being
there. And my brother was new to the force. So, yes, he was a
patrolman. He was hit first and my father went to
help....It...it was so horrible when...when they were both shot
and killed in the same shoot-out.”

Extremely sorrowful blue eyes lifted and Kendal saw them
harden before her very eyes, “All over stinking
drugs!” Savannah’s jaw set and her eyes closed and
she cried harder. Kendal now knew why Savannah had such a fierce
reputation for prosecuting drug crimes.

Kendal forced herself to stay in the same pose. She did not
release her hold nor did she tighten it, fearing Savannah would
feel trapped. Finally Savannah calmed and continued,
“Everybody said, you know, how that kind of thing almost
never happens, two people in the same family being killed in a
police action. But we knew what my grandmother predicted, and it
was worse. Anyway, two killings did happen, it happened to my
family. It happened to me, my sister and my mother.”
Savannah leaned against Kendal and closed her eyes, “One
day you’re a happy family and the next day half your family
is gone. I didn’t think I would ever survive. I know I
couldn’t live through that again. I couldn’t. But
that wasn’t all of it.”

She gripped Kendal’s jacket lapel and looked up. Her
voice was raspy, “Bad things happen in threes in my family
and I couldn’t bear losing you. Don’t you see? I
could love anyone but a police officer, anyone but you.”
She shut her eyes and shook her head, “But I don’t
love anyone else. Only you. And now my love could sentence you
to...”

Kendal was always amazed by the strength of people’s
superstitions. She couldn’t help wondering if maybe they
drew negative energy to themselves just with the strength of
their convictions. Now she knew it was time for them to check
the boundaries of each others beliefs. She spoke softly,
“Darlin’, do you think Commanders run the same kind
of risk? I mean, this threes thing is really all about risk,
isn’t it?”

“No, Kendal, it isn’t in this case. It’s
about being a police officer.”

Kendal paused. “Okay, well a Commander isn’t
necessarily from a police organization. And their jobs are never
as dangerous, do you think?”

“Why?” Savannah gazed into Kendal’s
eyes.

“Because I’ve been offered the position of
Commander of a special international crime unit. It’s not
a police organization, exactly. It’s a group of different
organizations in one. It’s going to involve considerable
traveling and conferencing, but the actual hands-on work is going
to be done by agents in the field throughout the world.
That’s where the danger will be. My job would be more in
the realm of going to meetings and sending my people where they
need to be. My risk factors should be much, much lower. Could
you live with that, do you think?”

Actually till now Kendal had hoped that the new offering would
be an in-the-field kind of directorship, but she’d just
learned that it would not be. Instead she would be working
between all the factors. Where she excelled was in her ability
to assist varied groups in working together. And all the
factions in this last project recognized that. Compromise. She
was good at facilitating it. Now she guessed her being out of
the street action could be a good thing.

“Are you sure it’s not a police
organization?”

“Do you consider the CIA a police
organization?”

“No.”

“Then it isn’t, not really. The CIA will be
working with it. It’s funded by a grant so it’s only
for a couple years. I’ve also been talking with someone
regarding a liaison job with Homeland Security. It would be more
of a desk job. Or I thought I’d apply for a Unit
Commander’s position when the next job ends or try for a
job teaching at the Academy. Could you be comfortable with any
of those? What about my doing something like that, being a
Commander of this group, let’s say? Would it be easier
knowing the risk is lower?”

“What if I said “no’?” Savannah asked
mournfully. She dabbed at her eyes and sniffed as she watched
the taller woman’s face.

“That’s a fair enough question. As far as
I’m concerned, the answer is, that if we decide to have a
committed relationship and start a family, I believe we both
should have a say in what the other does for a living.
We’ll be acting as a family. If you absolutely can’t
live with my job, we’ll need to work together to find me
something we both can live with. I love my work, don’t get
me wrong, but my love for you is greater than all of that. My
work does not define me. When I’m old and grey, I want to
look back on the love we’ve shared over many, many years.
I don’t need just a cold wall of medals or trophies or
badges or my name on some plaque.”

“You’d do that? You’d get a different job
for me?” large blue eyes lifted to explore any possible
misunderstanding.

“Wouldn’t you?”

Savannah had never considered asking anyone to change
careers. Most everyone she knew had spent years preparing and
working to get to the place they’d attained in the
professional career they’d chosen. Would she quit being a
District Attorney? Give it up for Kendal? She thought for a
minute then smiled a weak grin. “Yes, I would. So things
happening in threes.....?”

“Wouldn’t apply.” Kendal knew that
sometimes irrational fears, especially superstitions like this
one, that were held this deeply for this long, were far more
difficult to sway than rational fears. She felt this was
definitely one of those occasions and knew she had to be very
careful how she worded her thoughts. She wanted to continually
pound on the rational ideas, hopeful of assuaging the
irrational. But she also had a back-up plan if that didn’t
work.

“I don’t necessarily agree with that theory
anyway,” Kendal continued. “I mean, sometimes things
happen in threes. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes you
really have to stretch things to make it seem like things are
happening in threes. In any case, this is one of those times
when I think they wouldn’t apply even if, let’s say,
I had the job of Commander. And I’ll tell you why.
Because I wouldn’t be a patrolman. And I wouldn’t be
working for the police force, per se. But none of the jobs I
mentioned put me on the street. And none of them classify me as
a patrolman. So I wouldn’t be eligible to be categorized
with your father and brother. The theorem of three would not
apply.”

Savannah looked deep into Kendal’s brown eyes.
“Oh Kendal, I wouldn’t want your life to be risked
for a technicality like that. Please
understand.”

“I do. And if those don’t work, we’ll
consider other things.”

“We’d both agree on your job, both of
us?”

“Yes, if we decided to commit ourselves to one another
for all time. But I wouldn’t want to change jobs and have
you say two weeks later that you’d found someone
else.”

“When I choose a partner, Kendal, it’s for life.
I don’t fool around with that.”

“Good. I feel that way, too.”

“But if we agreed on your being this Commander,
let’s say. And I’m not saying that I would agree
with that cause I’m not convinced it isn’t a police
position. But let’s say we did agree. You’d still
change from that job if I had really bad dreams about it or
something?”

“Yes.” Kendal smiled, “I’d go to the
ends of the earth for you, darlin’.” Then her
features became more serious, “I wouldn’t want you to
spend every minute worrying. My job would not be worth that to
me. But remember, a DA’s job is not without risk either.
This works both ways. Aren’t you under a threat risk right
now? We have to consider the risk factor in your job as well as
mine.”

Savannah suspected this was Kendal’s way of trying to
drive her thinking towards the middle and not leave it out on the
radical ends where it could be too difficult to compromise.
Knowing she also might have to give up a job she loved could have
a moderating effect on her thinking. But Kendal hasn’t
lived with the wretched curse, Savannah thought, and
doesn’t know its power.

She nervously tapped the fingertips of one hand on her midriff
as she pondered. She looked into the earnest eyes of the tall
woman before her. Could she live with Kendal being a Commander?
She wasn’t sure. If it wasn’t a police organization,
she could. But the thought of things happening in threes
terrified her. And what about those other jobs she’d
mentioned? She thought most of those were police jobs. She knew
she couldn’t handle those.

“Yes,” Kendal replied. “I’ve done a
lot of thinking about the future. I’ve been miserable
without you in my life. You are my deciding factor. If it comes
to it, I do have a BA from the University of Washington. It
should be good for something. I’ve always wondered what it
might be like to teach at a University. So that’s a
thought. Or working in the Fish and Wildlife Service. I think
I’d like that. There’s lots of possibilities. A
career doesn’t have to go in a straight line, you know.
Course I’ve also graduated from the FBI National Academy.
Heck, I’d take a job waiting tables if that’s what it
takes. I want my life to be with you. My career is
secondary.

“Are you sure, Kendal? Would you hate me for making you
change?

“I would never hate you. I want my life to be spent
with you. Like I said, I find lots of things interesting.
I’m sure we could find something for me to
do.”

“But this is the time to make absolutely certain. You
don’t feel like you have to stay in law
enforcement?”

“No,....I don’t. There’s lots of other
things out there. But I thought this was a problem with police
departments, not law enforcement in
general.”

“Yes, that’s right. That’s what I
meant.” Savannah tapped her fingers nervously on her
midriff. Her heart raced. They could have a future after all.
Kendal was willing to do this. She felt her lip quiver. She
loved Kendal so very much, more than she ever imagined it was
possible to love someone. And she’d been so miserable.
Now, here this wonderful tall woman was saying she’d give
up nearly everything for Savannah’s happiness. The small
blonde thought her heart might burst.

“Can you ever forgive me for the horrible things I said
to you?” Savannah looked down, “and the way I treated
you? I’m so very, very sorry. I love you so much. I...I
thought it would crush me when I saw how I’d hurt you. But
I didn’t know what else to do.”

Kendal reached out and stroked Savannah’s cheek.
“I know you thought my being with you would sentence me to
death. And you suffered as much as I did from it. Certainly I
forgive you for trying to do what you thought would keep me
safe. But we always need to talk things out, honey. We
can’t keep things back from each other like that. Even if
we think its better for the other person.”

“Yes, I see that now.” Savannah shyly looked up at
the tall beauty, obviously recalcitrant. “Are you sure
about your career...that you’d be willing to change?
You’ve worked so hard to get where you
are...”

“I love you, Savannah,” Kendal said.
“I’ve been so miserable without you. My career
hasn’t really helped with any of that. My dreams are with
you--with us. I’d give up anything to be able to put our
lives together as one, to have a future together that’s
alive with our love.”

Savannah threw her arms around Kendal’s neck and pulled
her down. She stood on her tiptoes, “My darling wonderful
Kendal,” tears of happiness filled her eyes, “you
absolutely, positively are The One, you know.” Her lips
touched Kendal’s. It started softly but quickly became
much more intense, giving freedom to all kinds of feelings and
desires they had each stored a’plenty. Their hands roamed
the other’s body as the steam in their kiss
increased.

Breaking for air, but staying in each other’s arms,
there was silence except for the ticking clock on
Savannah’s desk as they both considered the ramifications
of their new direction. They both glanced at the clock and the
cute little dancing mice on top, the only reminder Savannah had
left of the things Kendal had sent her.

“Yes. I recovered it the minute you left,”
Savannah blushed. “My biological clock from the woman I
love. I decided right then that I wouldn’t have children
since I couldn’t raise them with you. But I couldn’t
throw your clock out. It was all I had left of you.” She
smiled at the now bittersweet memory, then added,
“I’m not all that old, though, you know.” For
the first time she chuckled.

Kendal laughed. “Thirty-three, nearly
thirty-four.” She raised a brow, “It takes a while
to work out the “sire’ part in our situation,
honey.” She stroked some hair from Savannah’s
forehead, “I assume we’ll be talking children for the
future now, though.”

Delighted, Savannah leaned back to look into Kendal’s
large brown eyes, “Do you want children? Or are you just
trying to please me?”

“No, I want them. And if that pleases you, it’s
all that much better.”

A sharp knock at the door and it opened almost immediately
thereafter. “Have a good weekend, Savan.....”
Nelson Ellons, head man at the DA’s office, stood stunned.

Kendal sighed. “I guess we both have to be kind of
careful about that. We are at your job site. It’s not the
place for personal, uh, business.” The tall brunette
buttoned her jacket up as high as possible, hiding much of the
mascara smudges on her white blouse.

“Yes,” Savannah reached up and stroked the tall
brunette’s face. “Let’s go home to my place.
We need to talk and, uh,” her voice grew huskier,
“...get to know each other better.” She quirked a
grin that set Kendal’s heart racing. “Getting to
know each other better’ sounded real good to Kendal.
“Can you stay, honey?” the blonde asked,
“Please say “yes’.”

“For the weekend,” Kendal smiled lovingly,
“You know we can make anything work if we try hard enough,
Savannah, and if we work together. If you agree that I’m
the one for you, we do need to plan. Cause I know you’re
the one for me.”

“Then plan it is, my love,” Savannah sighed, this
time happily, “Cause as far as I’m concerned,
you’re it.” Savannah moved a stack of papers on her
desk toward herself. They would need to do a great deal of
talking about this, but she could see now that they had a
future. She flicked a glance at the tall beauty. How had it
happened that suddenly she felt most anything was possible if
she just had Kendal in her life?

“Uh, how do you feel about living in Edgeway?”
Kendal asked tentatively as the blonde hastily stuffed some
papers in her briefcase. “Or even Seattle? I think
you’d love the Northwest and I asked around. They always
have need of a good DA there. Or it could be a good place to
start a family.”

“You asked around? Sure of yourself, were you?”
Savannah raised a brow and grinned then became very serious when
Kendal’s face fell. Kendal did know how to draw her into
this compromising business. The small blonde stopped, grabbed
Kendal’s larger hand and kissed it gently, “I think
Edgeway sounds like a fine place to live. How do you feel about
holidays in the South?”

“I think that sounds like a great idea,” Kendal
replied, “I’d like bringing our family here to visit
your Mother and sister’s family anytime we can.”
Savannah felt a small thrill at the ease with which they both
assumed their future would be together forever.

Kendal helped Savannah on with her coat. The blonde quickly
whipped out a mirror and wiped at her make-up, doing a quick
cleanup. She got most of the mascara, but her red-rimmed eyes
remained. Oh, well, nothing she could do about that.

“I’m starving,” Kendal whispered in her
ear.

“Well, then, I’d better feed you when we get
home,” Savannah said. “I’m an excellent cook,
I’ll have you know.”

“You need to eat, too,” Kendal suggested, noticing
again the weight the small blonde had lost.

“Yes, I’m famished.” Savannah gave the room
a speedy once-over before they both headed to her office door.
Kendal held the door for the blonde and followed her into the
outer office.

A number of the other attorneys, secretaries, and paralegals
glanced their way, then her friends that knew of the
blonde’s lifestyle broke into smiles at seeing the two of
them leaving together. Savannah waved briefly and started for
the main office entrance. Kendal trailed, smiling wanly at the
watching eyes and nodding with a wink to Phyliss Ann.

Suddenly Savannah turned back, “Are you sure this is
what you want, Kendal? Are you sure you don’t mind making
such drastic changes?”

“It’s what I want. A life with
you.”

“Well darlin’,” Savannah warned with a
twinkle in her eye, “Perhaps you’d better meet Mother
first thing then.” She turned and they continued on toward
the door and the guard beyond.

“Your mother?”

“Yes. She might decide we’d need to bring her and
her menagerie of pets to Edgeway to live with us, you
know.”

“Oh, uh, well, I guess we could do that, uh,
maybe,” Kendal said hesitantly. She opened the office door
and Savannah headed out toward the elevators.

“I think not,” Savannah said under her breath.
Than she added aloud, “I think it would be fair to tell
both of our mothers that we’ll be happy to bring the family
to visit every time we can. But what isn’t fair is trying
to choose one parent above the other to live with us. To be
fair, we’ll choose neither.”

“That works,” Kendal grinned as she stepped out
into the hall by the guard, following Savannah.
“I’ll tell Mom that.” The door closed softly
behind them.

“Who was that with our little Savannah?” the
newest attorney asked as his eyes followed the two women out.
“My, my, my, that tall girl’s a real
looker!”

“That?” Savannah’s good friend Phyliss Ann
smiled. She glanced at the other workers before saying in a
private tone, “That, my friend, is The One. They met in
Edgeway.”

“The one what?” the young man asked.

She looked at him with disbelief over the rim of her glasses.
“You’ve heard Savannah talk about it a million times,
Daryl. That is...” she fluttered her hands, “The
One.”

His eyes moved back to the door. “Oh, my God,” he
exclaimed softly, “that’s The One?
Wow! Maybe I’ll have Savannah shop for
me.”